Hope and Despair
by Eternal Hope is My Company
Summary: Shiro just wished he could find a way to cope with life without Adam. But, looks like other more sinister beings have other ideas. Based on the Fatal Frame Series. Mainly 3. Rated M for potential later chapters. Eventual Sheith and possible other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

This has to be one of the weirder ideas I've ever come up with. But, think Voltron characters in the Fatal Frame series with all them lovely ghosts and that is the jist of it. This story will mainly be set in 3, but not exactly follow it's plot line. I would not want to write a story that just follows the game step by step. The story will also reference, for sure, 1 & 2 and possibly 4. The fifth game would be the basis of a sequel if I ever write one for this story. I do hope you all get some enjoyment out of this. If not, welp, I dared to dream right?

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 **"Takashi."** Adam smiled warmly at him. **"I know this is not the best of circumstances, but you mentioned that we needed to get back to the house before tomorrow."** He placed his hand over Takashi's. **"It isn't the first nor last time someone has had to drive in the dark while it was raining. I am making sure to drive carefully."** After squeezing the hand gently, he placed the hand back on the wheel. **"But, is that what is really bothering you? You seem…out of it lately."**

He heard Takashi sigh softly. **"Just been having a lot of nightmares lately."**

Adam blinked a bit, briefly glancing at Takashi out of the corner of his eye. **"About what?"** He asked even though he already had a feeling he knew the answer.

The rain dropped hard onto the car and created a loud echo in the car. That was all Adam heard for a few minutes until he heard Takashi give an answer.

 **"About that village."** Takashi's voice wavered slightly. **"I keep seeing Kuron and red butterflies and…"** He paused while his body trembled, and he gripped the seat tightly. **"And those things."**

Adam sighed softly. **"We'll be home soon. Just focus on the rain."** He frowned and kept his eyes on the road. He wished he knew what to say to make Takashi feel better. Kuron going missing and then being declared dead had really gotten to Takashi. But, things like ghosts and haunted places just didn't exist. He knew something terrible had happened to Takashi when he and his twin disappeared a few years back. Yet, he found it hard to believe the tale Takashi wove to him.

The supernatural just didn't exist.

 **"ADAM! LOOK OUT!"**

He tensed at Takashi calling out, gritting his teeth. He was about to say something when he blinked. In the middle of the road was a woman. What was a woman doing out here in the middle of the night? He didn't get a good look at her before he found himself having to quickly swerve out of the way. His eyes widened at feeling the car move further than he wished. The rain slicked road made it hard to keep his tires from sliding.

 **"TAKASHI! Hold on!"** He placed his arm over Takashi's chest as he felt the car hit the barrier at the edge of the road. If only the road wasn't bordering a cliff like it did. While the car started to go beyond the barrier, he clenched his eyes shut.

 **"I love you, Takashi. I always will."**

 **"Adam I lo-"**

That was all Adam heard before everything went to black.

* * *

 **"ADAM!"** Shiro sat up quickly from his bed and panted loudly. He wiped at his forehead before quickly glancing around his room. His eyes focused on his bedroom door that slowly opened. A teenage girl with glasses on her face and clothes that were baggy appeared before him. He blinked slowly, his mind finding itself a bit cloudy presently.

The girl huffed loudly and came inside the room. **"Shiro, it's Katie? Pidge? Geez. You really are horrible to talk to when you first wake up."** She placed a plate of food onto the table. **"Matt brought over some food. He said he would be back over with some photos from that place you two went to together. The one uh…,"** she trailed off slightly before huffing a bit, **"your late fiancé went to with that co-worker?"**

Shiro tensed at the mention of Adam. Adam's death still stung after a year. But, he slowly nodded as he got himself out of the mental fog. **"Thanks, Pidge."** He called her by her preferred name, a nickname she apparently gave herself some years ago.

 **"No problem."** She headed back towards the door before taking a deep breath. **"I know you may not like this, but Matt is bringing over that co-worker. Matt thinks the guy may have some answers about the uh…strange dreams."**

He scowled a bit. He hadn't been wishing to see anyone new since Adam's death. Only when he had to for work or needed to. He wasn't sure meeting this person was necessary. However, he had corresponded with the man and at least the person seemed nice. It just didn't stop the desire to seclude himself away though with the darker emotions that lingered inside him.

 **"Do you know when they would be coming over?"** Shiro slowly got out of his bed, stretching his arms and legs. He saw Pidge look down at her phone.

 **"In a few hours? So, you got time to get yourself ready and looking presentable.** " She shrugged slightly. **"I'll make sure the house doesn't look a mess. So, don't worry about that."** She smiled at her boss and roommate. **"Though, you might have some photos you still need to develop. Not sure. I'll double check that. I'm sure that can be done after the visit though."**

Shiro nodded and got out of the bed. He noticed he was still in his clothes from yesterday. He sighed softly. He must have forgotten to change out of his clothes. **"Alright. I can check on the photos myself in a bit."**

Pidge looked at him for a moment before nodding. **"Sounds good. I'll be around if you need me."** She left the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Shiro sighed while running a hand through his hair. He took a couple of deep breaths before gritting his teeth. His right shoulder experienced a brief sharp stinging pain. It wouldn't be the first time his right arm and shoulder acted up. When he looked though, he blinked at the glimpse of a grey and black tattoo. **"What?"** He placed his fingers on the skin of what remained of his right shoulder. Right when he did so, the marking was gone and so was the pain.

 **"I must be still trying to wake up."** He shook his head, recalling the pain happening on other nights since visiting the last place Adam did for their photography business.

While it had not been adventuring out into the galaxite frontier or even flying planes, Shiro enjoyed the business well enough. It paid the bills and allowed some creative outlets. But, running a business by himself now exhausted him and ruined some of the enjoyment he once had…The strange sensations and dreams since visiting that abandoned mansion only drained more joy out of photography for him.

At least last night's nightmares had been one of his usual nightmares and not one of finding himself traversing an old mansion filled with ghosts.

He sat at the table and started eating the food. He smiled faintly. Matt remembered he liked a somewhat healthy breakfast and got him some sausage, scrambled eggs, and a little bowl of various fruit such as blueberries. He would have to thank him later.

After finishing eating, he went about the daily tasks of contacting his various clients and developing photos. He hadn't realized how much time had passed until he came out of the dark room. **"Pidge?"** He noticed her staring at him with narrowed eyes.

 **"Uh, did you forget about the visitors? Figure you would want to wear more than that."** She pointed at the fact Shiro only wore some sweatpants and a tank top.

Shiro flustered and quickly rushed up the stairs. He swore he heard Pidge snickering, but that could have just been him. His foot hit something soft and he barely kept himself from falling over. He glanced down to see two cats looking up at him. **"Sorry Kuro and Red. Didn't see you guys."** He smiled sheepishly before quickly entering his bedroom.

He threw on some black pants, a skin tight long sleeve black shirt, and a vest he got from somewhere. If only he could remember who gave him the vest with the hints of yellow and grey…

Once he got himself ready, he heard the doorbell ring. **"I got it!"** Pidge yelled from downstairs. Shiro sighed in relief while slipping on some black boots. Was Matt going to tease him he had gone Goth or something silly with all the black? He rolled his eyes while smiling at the thought. Matt could stand his darker moods somehow. Guess that was what childhood best friends were for.

He heard Pidge talking with people as he made his way out of the bedroom. He leaned over the banister and looked down to see Pidge talking with Matt and someone with dark brown hair styled in a mullet. He blinked at that, tilting his head. He was about to say something when he noticed Red going down the stairs and…rubbing himself against the stranger? His eyes widened at the sight.

 **"Woah Matt. You brought someone over Red likes that isn't me, you, or Shiro? Ho-ly shit I never thought I would see the day!"**

Matt's laughter reverberated in Shiro's ears. **"Eh. I'm not surprised. He seems really good with animals even if he's bad with people."**

The stranger crouched down to pet Red, but Shiro had a feeling the guy was glaring up at Matt. **"Yeah well, animals can be a lot more tolerable and more easily understood than people."** The guy spoke while still petting the cat.

 **"Yeah yeah."** Matt waved his hand dismissably before looking up. **"Oh, hey Shiro! Glad to see you're up!"**

Shiro smiled down at Matt. It was nice to know Matt still called him Shiro rather than well…his first name. He still had issues anytime someone called him that.

 **"Haha. I don't sleep all day you know."** He smiled back and saw the stranger turn and look up as well.

Shiro's eyes widened at seeing a man with blue grey eyes looking at him and a scar across his right cheek. It was the facial structure along with the eyes though that caused his head to throb and images to appear in his mind.

 **"** _ **Takashi? Kuron? Where are you all?"** A boy close to their age called out as the two twins hid themselves in the same bush. **"I know I said I wanted to play hide and seek but come on! I swear you two keep moving!"** The boy pouted while standing in front of their hiding bush. **"And that's not how you play-EEEP!"**_

 _The boy got gripped tightly by Kuron who laughed loudly._

 **"** _ **Kuron!"** Takashi pouted. **"You just got us found by doing that!"**_

 _Kuron snickered while resting his head on top of the boy's. **"It was just too hard to resist spooking him. He's just so cu-OW!"** Kuron rubbed his cheek where the boy punched him. **"And feisty."**_

 _Takashi rolled his eyes before looking at the boy. **"Are you alright? He didn't scare you too bad, did he?"** He couldn't help the slight jest to his tone as he gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder._

 **"** _ **Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking, Takashi. At least you have manners unlike Kuron."** The boy smirked and Kuron pouted, causing Takashi to laugh._

 **" _Now now Kei-"_**

 **"Takashi? Is that you?"** Shiro got interrupted by hearing his first name spoken by an unfamiliar voice. As he focused back on reality, he realized no, that voice was familiar. It was just older and belonged to someone he had only recalled when he could think about his twin without feeling intense stabs of pain.

 **"Keith."** He spoke softly, watching Keith climb slowly up the stairs. **"I…go by Shiro now."** He quickly said while watching Keith come closer and closer to him. **"But yes, I'm him. I'm not…"** He glanced off to the side before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He looked back over to see Keith looking at him calmly.

 **"I know. I heard about what happened to him. I'm sorry."**

Shiro wanted to cry out and say Keith really hadn't heard. The news didn't report what really happened to his brother. Adam didn't believe him, and he wasn't sure Matt or Pidge did either. He didn't dare to tell his other friends, Hunk and Allura, about that experience. So how could Keith know? But, he kept his mouth shut. He knew getting angry at someone he hadn't seen in years would do him no good.

 **"Thanks."** Shiro said instead with a strained smile on his face. **"I appreciate the sentiment."**

Why did Keith scowl at him now? **"You don't need to bullshit me."** Keith spoke softly to keep Matt and Pidge from hearing. **"I didn't mean to hurt you."**

Shiro blinked before smiling a bit more naturally now. **"Right, you were always perspective of what me and him were feeling."** He placed one of his hands on Keith's shoulder. **"It's good to see you though really. I can't believe you were working with Adam this whole time. We could have had a nice reunion sooner."** It was strange, but in that moment, he felt no pain talking about a what if that would never occur.

 **"Yeah, would have been nice. I just never heard his fiancé's last name so…I didn't assume it was you."** Keith explained with a faint smile on his face. **"With that out of the way though, I believe we have important things to discuss?"** He pointed downstairs to photos spread all along the coffee table.

 **"Oh, right yes. Let's get that over with. We can catch up after."** Shiro hoped he would be up to doing so afterwards. Even with Keith being someone he knew in the past, he wasn't sure if Keith wouldn't emotionally exhaust him. Sometimes even Matt and Pidge did.

But, as the four of them sat on the couch (which was a bit cramped with all of them on it like that) and discussing the mansion, Shiro found himself oddly rejuvenated. Matt's playful remarks, Pidge's smart-aleck comments, and Keith's blunt statements were all easy to work with. Enjoyable even. It felt like Keith had been there the whole time rather than just returning into his life unexpectedly.

He liked that feeling a lot.

However, as he glanced outside to see rain once more, he saw a figure in the backyard. He swallowed at the sight of a ghostly woman with tattoos covering her upper torso. His heart raced as she pointed to him and then to each of the others one by one. Then, he barely kept himself from screaming at her gripping what looked to be Adam and dragging him away as if implying soon they all would be taken away too.

 **"Shiro?"** Keith called out to him and Shiro quickly looked at him. He swallowed while taking quick breathes.

 **"I'm okay."** Shiro quickly said to reassure Keith, and likely Pidge and Matt as well.

But, he felt once again the burden of something heavy pressing onto his mind and body. And god knows if he would be strong enough to protect those around him from whatever had come their way…let alone himself. He could only pray that whatever entity had now chosen to plague him, and others would soon be vanquished, or else none of them would make it out alive.


	2. Chapter 2

Honestly, Shiro had hoped he wouldn't find himself in that mansion once more. But, that was wishful thinking at this point. Ever since reuniting with Keith and the four of them trying to solve the mystery, Shiro did not dream of anything else but him in that old place. Here he was again, roaming about the large tatami rooms and wooden hallways. At least he always had a flashlight on him to illuminate the parts not well-lit and the strange camera that now kept his constant company in this nightmare.

" _What do you think it is?" Shiro looked over at Keith, tilting the camera from side to side. "I mean, I know it's a camera but…I just never have seen one that looks like this one." He aimed the camera to where Keith could look into the viewfinder. "It has all kinds of strange symbols and the photo I found in there the other day…" He pointed to the developed photo on the table in front of them. "It just doesn't add up."_

 _Shiro watched Keith slowly pick up the photo and then noticed his eyes widen. "Keith? Do you recognize the woman?"_

 _Keith nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know a guy named Lance McClain and that's his sister, Veronica, in that photo. I'm sure of it."_

 _Shiro raised an eyebrow. "But how in the world did a camera that Adam told me no longer worked have a photo inside of it of someone?"_

" _I don't know." Keith quickly said and looked over at Shiro. "Yet I have a feeling this camera and what it can do will be the least of the mysteries we are going to have to solve."_

Shiro examined the camera once again. Here, the camera seemed capable of capturing photos of the unliving inhabitants here. Not only that, but the symbols glowed in response and seemed to emit some sort of power that harmed the ghosts. Try as he might to get the camera to do that outside of his dream though and he might as well be trying to move a mountain.

He sighed softly as he kept a tight grip on the camera. Just as he stepped into a set of tatami rooms, he heard a woman's voice calling out something. He tensed and looked about to see if it was the tattoo ghost. His body relaxed as well as his heart at realizing it wasn't her. But then, who was it that he heard calling out? He furrowed his eyebrows while slowly walking in the direction of the voice came from.

"Veronica? Is that you?" He called out. He frowned when he heard no response. After taking a deep breath, he opened a door and found himself in a hallway with stairs leading up to another floor. He looked up the stairs just as he saw a woman looking down at him with widened eyes and her mouth agape. His eyes widened at the way she looked.

Glasses adorned her face as short dark brown hair moved when she turned around. If she hadn't bolted so quickly, he swore he could have been surer she had light blue eyes that would have matched her dark skin. "Wait!" He yelled and ran up the stairs. He blinked when he got up there and he saw no sight of the woman. "What the world?" He swore she looked solid like himself. So, where did she go? He glanced from side to side while heading down the corridor. Maybe she had just been a quicker runner than he thought.

When he saw a door closed, he headed towards it. He tried the door but found it locked. "Dammit." He cursed lowly before feeling the camera vibrate in his hand. "Huh?" He lifted it up and noticed the filament in it had turned blue. Cautiously, he raised the camera up to the door and took a photo of it. He tensed at seeing some image flash before his eyes. A person staring at him from within a wall he hadn't seen before. He lowered the camera quickly away from his face, taking deep breaths to calm his heart.

"What was that?" He saw the door slowly open in front of him. Once he felt calm again, he pushed the door completely open and stepped into a room. He noticed right away the room was one where a corridor aligned the edges of the main part, which looked to be a guest room maybe? He couldn't say for sure. Yet, he swore he did see someone sitting against one of the walls nearby some see through curtains. He nodded to himself before daring to go along the corridor to the entrance of the room.

His eyes widened when he felt something brush his shoulder from behind him. He turned quickly to see a wall. He blinked a bit and noticed the filament glowing an orange color now. He breathed shakily before aiming the camera at the wall, taking a photo of it. This time, when he lowered the camera, he saw a man peering out to him from inside the wall. "Thank you." The man whispered before fading away.

"W…what?" Shiro shook his head as he heard a noise from the part of the area he was trying to get to. He quickly ran over there and saw what looked like a wooden doll of some sort burning on the floor. He watched it disintegrate into dust and none of the flames spread outside of that spot. The sight was really odd considering he swore the fire was blue, and he hadn't seen those just randomly pop up like that. "…I think I am almost wishing for the old nightmares back. Cause at least they made sense." But right now, he couldn't focus on that.

He stood up and looked over at the woman now across from him. She stayed leaned up against the wall with her arms around her knees. With her face down, he couldn't see much of her features. He headed over towards her. The closer he got, the more he could hear her mumbling. Unfortunately, he could only pick up on some of the words she said.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…wake up…" The woman kept mumbling and Shiro frowned.

"Veronica? Is that you?" He called out to her, crouching down in front of her. "I know we haven't met before, but I know someone that knows your brother…" He lowered himself completely onto the floor and crossed his legs Indian style. "If there's anything you can tell me about this place, please. I need to know." He asked while faintly smiling in an attempt to appear friendly.

He tensed when the woman slowly lifted her head up. Realizing for sure now he was staring at the woman who was in the photo caused him to swallow. How could he have dreamt of this person yet never saw her before? Did that really mean these nightmares weren't…

"Help me." She stared into Shiro's eyes. "Wake me up, and I'll tell you everything I know." She placed her hand on top of Shiro's shoulder. "But, what I do know is that you must never allow yourself to keep sleeping. No matter how strong the pull might get to sleep all the day away…" She leaned forward, placing her mouth nearby his ear.

"Or else you'll end up like me, unable to wake myself up at all from this endless nightmare."

"I saw her in my nightmare last night." Shiro drank some of his coffee. "I don't know why I'm dreaming about her. But, if there is anything you can tell me about her, I would appreciate it." He asked while placing the coffee cup down. He looked across the table at the guy with short brown hair and dark blue eyes. Shiro could definitely see the resemblance between the two.

It had been a miracle honestly that Keith could set up the meeting on such short notice. Apparently, Lance owed Keith for something and the debt would be paid if Lance dropped his plans for the impromptu gathering. While Shiro sound himself feeling a bit tense sitting at a café when he rarely left home on non-business ventures, he did his best to keep a smile on his face. No need for Lance to feel like he was the reason Shiro wanted to run back home as soon as possible.

"So, you're telling me my sister is somehow in your nightmares?" Lance asked while crossing his arms over his chest. "How do I know you aren't just playing me right now? She was in that plane crash a few weeks back and you could just be imagining her, not actually speaking with her." He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Keith. "Hell, I'm only here because of Keith and maybe the off chance you have been able to talk with her. Doesn't mean I believe all this."

Shiro sighed softly while looking over at Keith. Keith shrugged, punching Lance in the shoulder. "I wouldn't have brought you someone I thought would just play with you like that. You should know better than that."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Well mullet, it wouldn't be the first time our senses of humor didn't quite line up."

"Okay. Not in the mood." Shiro quickly interrupted when he saw Keith glaring now at Lance. "Listen. She told me to wake her up because she can't get herself to wake up…is she in a coma or something?"

Lance tensed, and his eyes widened. "Y…yeah, its' like she's in one." He frowned while looking down at the table. "She has no injuries or anything that they believed should have led her to start sleeping for days on end like this. She can even still breathe on her own and all which is the weird part." Lance frowned more. "They said it really is like she's just sleeping her life away."

Shiro nodded while frowning himself now. "I'm sorry your family is dealing with this. I truly do believe she would be awake right now if she could." He moved his hand towards Lance and offered it out for him to shake. "And I know I want answers, but I really do want to help her too. If we can save her…I want to do what I can to accomplish that."

Lance looked over at Keith before huffing a bit. "Geez. I just hope I'm not getting dragged into some weird shit." He gripped Shiro's hand and shook it. "Now, I'll take you to her."

All three of them stood around the hospital bed. Shiro looked down at Veronica who really did look like she was sleeping. He even tried, knowing it likely wouldn't work, to shake her gently. But, it was as if her body no longer registered outside stimuli. He asked Lance about it after he poked her side. "Yeah, they tried putting her hands in ice and all those old tricks to wake up people. None of its' worked."

Shiro scratched his chin slightly. How was he to wake her up then? He sighed softly and looked over at Lance. "I may have to try and go back into the nightmares to see if there is an answer in them. I just…don't know what I can do here." He hated admitting that. But, it's not like she told him how to. Probably because she didn't know how to either. It didn't help that she looked sickly, as if she was already on death's door. He furrowed his eyebrows when he swore he saw something move along her neck.

"…It's too late." Shiro blinked at Keith's whispered words.

"Keith?" He looked over at Keith and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what are you talking about-"

"VERONICA?!" Shiro tensed at hearing Lance yell at the top of his lungs. Shiro turned quickly around to see a blue looking tattoo spreading across her face. His eyes widened, and he took a step back, finding him gripping Keith's arm tightly. He watched as Veronica's eyes opened wide with lines spreading to her pupils.

"…She's gone." Keith whispered again and Shiro noticed this time that Keith's eyes appeared blurry, almost out of it. As if he was focused on something neither he or Lance could see. He looked back over just in time to see a soot imprint where Veronica's body was. He swallowed as he saw Lance grip onto the sheets and move his fingers along where his sister's body had been.

"What…where…how?" Lance sounded like he couldn't get any of his statements straight. Shiro couldn't blame him.

"I'm sorry." Was all Shiro could bring himself to say.

When he went back to sleep that next night, Shiro knew tomorrow would be hard for him. They all agreed to allow Lance to help which meant to explain to him the nightmares and how they seemed connected to a place he had visited. But, he wasn't looking forward to helping someone through their grief when he still struggled with his own.

How was he to help Lance when he still felt empty from the loss of Adam?

He pushed the concern to the back of his mind as he found himself again in the mansion. This time, he walked with purpose, trying to find his way back to the room he saw Veronica last. He made it there pretty quickly which made him wonder if that was a good or bad thing. He stepped in there only to see no one in there. But this time, he saw the closet door was open. He slowly approached the closet door. Then, he opened it. Instead, all he saw was a doll.

He shrugged slightly, taking a few steps back while moving his flashlight. His eyes widened at seeing Veronica just appearing where she had sat before as if she had just materialized there. "Veronica?" He swallowed and slowly reached his hand out to her.

"Stay back!" Veronica yelled and Shiro saw multiple shadows around her with masks on their faces. He quickly moved back. The masked shadows turned towards him, starting to float in his direction. He raised his camera, taking photos of the ghosts and watched them be pushed back with each flash. One by one, the ghosts faded into nothingness. He sighed in relief once he saw no more of them. "Veronica, it's safe now." He said just as she disappeared and then reappeared in front of him.

"You're not like me." She gripped his arm and Shiro pulled back at the pain he felt. "You couldn't save me…" She glared while Shiro noticed her whole skin covered in tattoos now. "Now, I'll make you like me."

Shiro's eyes widened. "Veronica! Please! Snap out of it!" He tried calling to her as he moved about the room, avoiding her hits. Only when he found himself in a corner and her approaching did he raise the camera. When he saw the symbols glow, his heart dropped to his chest.

"I'm sorry Lance…" He said just as he took the photo of Veronica and heard her yell.

And when he woke up from the nightmare with the tattoo looking bruise spreading across his shoulder blades and the sight of what looked like Veronica gripping his arm, he swore he deserved it all for not being able to save even a single life from whatever was cursing them all.


	3. Chapter 3

When Lance came by the place, the whites of his eyes red from tears, Shiro couldn't bring himself to deny the guy. He had lost one of his siblings without any plausible explanation. Shiro had seen the online articles about "the woman who vanished into ash". The news spread like wildfire and didn't allow Lance and his family to truly grieve with all the reporters bugging them. So, he forced back the desire to hid away from anyone that wasn't Matt, Pidge, or even Keith and let Lance stay as long as he wanted.

"Here Shiro." Lance handed him a notebook once Pidge had heated up some of the soup Shiro had made the other night for Lance to eat. "Veronica liked to keep a log as she called it, but the rest of us called it her diary." The poor man tried to grin and make his tone jovial. But, Shiro knew a faker when he saw it. He saw the biggest faker of them all every time he looked in the mirror. "I don't know if it will help you all. But I thought it might since in her last entries, she started writing about a manor in her dreams."

Shiro slowly took the notebook from his hands. "You sure about this?" Was it right of him to look through the personal thoughts of the woman he hadn't been able to save?

Lance smiled faintly, a bit more genuine than his previous attempt. "Yeah, I just want answers to what happened to her, and I sure as hell am not going to allow what happened to her to happen again."

"Thanks Lance." Shiro smiled and placed his hand on Lance's shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. "Just promise me you will not visit the actual manor. We need to make sure no more people are dragged into this mess." His smile faded at the conflicted look in Lance's face. "I know you want your answers. But, I don't feel comfortable putting anyone in danger now that we know this place could honestly affect people outside the dream world."

Hearing Lance huff loudly reminded him of a certain violet eyed man he knew that could look just as annoyed when denied something he wanted. "Finnnne. Just know I'm not leaving until the fat lady sings!"

Shiro chuckled very faintly at that. "Riighhtt…" He shook his head and sat down in his lounge chair. "With me needing that image out of my mind, I will see about these entries you were talking about."

Slowly, he opened the notebook, taking care not to cause any tears in the pages. He glanced only briefly at the dates on the entries and not the contents. That is, until he arrived at an entry dated a few days after the crash.

 _8/13_

 _You can never truly say you know what it is like to a see a gruesome death until you see it in person. Until you can see the mangled bodies with missing limbs and parts of their skin ripped cleanly off to show muscle. I remember laughing at Lance for finding such disgusting in movies and told him it was only makeup and CG. Never real. But, now I know how it can be not a laughing matter. To my brother, he must have felt like he was actually seeing real live people instead of people dolled up to look that way. When you're unable to convince yourself logically that what you are seeing is an illusion, it hits you like a ten-ton brick. The smell of burning flesh is the worst though. I swear the smell still lingers in my nostrils._

 _They said I was lucky to come out of the crash with only some injuries. They said I should be able to leave the hospital soon. I just wish to be able to be with my family again. At least the doctors allowed my family to visit and my one sister got my log for me. I think writing will help me cope with this unexpected tragedy._

 _And maybe help me deal with my odd dreams. For ever since the crash, I've dreamt of an abandoned manor covered in snow. I find myself heading closer and closer to its entrance as if drawn by something._

 _But to what, I'm not sure and have a feeling I should never find out._

"Veronica…" Shiro muttered to himself and carefully turned the page.

 _8/18_

 _I entered the manor and now every time I sleep I'm inside it. I never dream of flying in space or working on a new engineering project. I don't even have my usual nightmares of dying in that crash or failing to fulfill my dreams. Instead, my dreams are consumed by that manor. I am starting to wonder if I should bring up to my doctor or one of the nurses about the strangeness of dreaming seemingly the same thing over and over again._

 _Or how I woke up today with a sharp pain in my arm and swore there was a tattoo there that couldn't be there. After all, the tattoo I have is on my shoulder blades not my right arm. But, I swore I saw it, and it reminded me of the woman I saw in my dream last night._

 _The woman covered in the blue tattoos._

"Lance!" He called out and caused Lance to jump. He hadn't realized the guy had turned on the TV until he heard the faint murmurings of people coming from the sound system.

"Woah got to learn how to not spook people." Lance teased slightly before blinking. "Found something I'm guessing?"

Shiro nodded, motioning for Lance to come over. "Your sister mentioned here a woman covered with tattoos. I've also seen that woman." He frowned and glanced towards the glass doors leading out to the backyard. "After encountering her, I too have experienced sharp pains and even seen a tattoo spread along my skin. Yet…" He placed his hand on his right shoulder, what remained of the flesh part of his arm anyway. "When I look in the mirror, I don't see anything there."

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. "I think the last visit I had with her, before she slipped into a coma, she asked me to look at her right arm and see if I saw anything odd. I just thought maybe she was worried about scars or something. I told her I saw nothing, and she frowned at that." He frowned before gritting his teeth. "I should have pushed her to answer me honestly when I asked instead of accepting her answer of nothing! I could tell she was bluffing!"

"Lance!" Shiro gripped Lance's arm and frowned. "You couldn't have known. How could you have? All of this sounds like crazy to most people." He gently let of the arm once Lance didn't look like he was going to flail about the room with his nails out like claws. "I'm just sorry we didn't figure out her connection to this sooner."

"I don't blame you." Lance quickly said. "I don't blame any of you. I'm just glad Keith made me come with him to meet you. Cause if he hadn't, I wouldn't even have had the chance to get answers."

Shiro smiled warmly. "Yeah, Keith is a good guy, even now."

"So, wait, he wasn't bluffing when he said you two knew each other a long time ago?" Lance blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Just thought he was messing with me or was just telling me that to make me a bit more willing to go with him."

Shiro's smile remained warm as an image of a much younger Keith smiling at him and-He stiffened and placed the notebook down on the table.

"Shiro?" Lance took a step back when Shiro quickly stood up from his chair.

"Sorry, I think I'll go see if the Camera Obscura has anymore photos in it. I'll come back to finish reading the rest of her logs later." Shiro went up the stairs as if darting away from someone or something.

"Woah, what's his problem all of a sudden?" Lance shook his head and shrugged. "Guess it's just me and you." He sat back down on the couch, gripping the notebook in his hand. "But, I'll let him have a chance to finish what he started before looking at you myself." He put the notebook down and focused his gaze back on the TV, gripping the soup bowl and eating the soup.

Because he wasn't sure right now if he was willing to see what could have been his sister's last words before she found herself unexpectedly disappearing from the living world.

Once he had calmed himself down after many hours and no longer found his neck feeling pressure around it, Shiro came back down the stairs. The Camera Obscura did not have any new pictures in it. But, he checked it every day just to make sure. He walked back past the Lance sleeping on the couch. When he saw Lance gripping the notebook to his chest, Shiro figured he could finish the log later. He figured Pidge was asleep in her room and Matt in Adam's old room as well so no need to disturb them

He might as well work on developing photos since he didn't want to go to sleep just yet, knowing he would wake up in that manor most likely. When he entered the hallway to head towards the dark room, he stiffened at hearing the floor creaking.

It just had to be normal house related noises, right? He shook his head and walked down the hallway. At seeing something move out of the corner of his eye, he quickly turned himself. "Oh Kuro. You scared me!" He smiled at seeing the Savannah cat come towards him and meow lowly. "Good boy." He scratched behind the cat's ears. He still recalled when he and Adam had gotten Kuro as a kitten early in their relationship. He just sometimes wished he hadn't named the cat Kuro since it was so close to _his_ name…

"You want to come with me to the dark room?" He smiled and allowed himself to peer further into the room. He blinked at seeing someone in front of the memorial shrine. "Keith is that you?" He blinked when the person didn't respond at all. "Keith?" It looked like Keith from the back with the dark brown hair. But, as he stepped into the room, he noticed the body wasn't quite right for Keith's figure and Keith never sat cross legged to save his life (That was Shiro's thing as Keith used to joke in their childhood days).

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Shiro's voice rose with his lips shifting into a frown and his eyes narrowing into a glare. "Get out!"

"Shiro?" He gasped and quickly turned away from the room. He blinked at seeing Keith standing right there. Keith had been staying here as well since he agreed to help. Shiro's cheeks reddened slightly at the sight of Keith in just his boxers and his hair slightly damp, likely from a shower. The sight of him holding Red in his arms though did warm his heart. Yet, not enough to still the dominant emotion conquering his mind right now.

"Y-yeah?" He stuttered out and didn't mean to do that. How embarrassing.

"You alright? Do I need to kick someone's ass?" Keith asked with a concern lacing his every word and a scowl on his face. The fact Red hissed as if agreeing with Keith almost made Shiro chuckle. Almost.

Shiro turned his head back towards the memorial shrine room. His eyes widened when the person had turned around and he could see now their figure was completely see through. Their old-style kimono made him realize it was one of the ghosts from the manor. But how? Why was he seeing one of them here? He swallowed and felt a warm hand gently squeeze his shoulder.

"Shiro, talk to me. Is someone there?" Keith tried to sound reassuring, but Shiro couldn't stop his heart from racing or his palms from sweating. Let alone break his gaze from the ghost slowly walking, more like floating, towards them.

"Keith…can you see it?" He finally dared to ask. "Am I losing my mind?"

He watched out of the corner of his eye and saw Keith turn his head.

His heart stopped briefly when he saw Keith's eyes faintly widen. Just the slightest hint that maybe, Keith was seeing the same thing.

"…It's spreading." Keith frowned while holding Red a bit closer to his chest. "It won't stop until we stop it."

Shiro turned to face Keith. Once again, Keith had that blurry look like at the hospital. It was like for a moment, Keith was not truly there. His chest clenched, and he wrapped his arms tightly around Keith's shoulder, careful not to crush Keith and the kitten to his chest. "We will stop it. I swear." He pulled back just enough to see Keith's eyes once more looking vibrant like galaxies.

"Yeah, we will." Keith smiled faintly and hugged Shiro back with one arm, holding the kitten in the other. "I swear it."

Shiro looked briefly to see the ghost had disappeared. Yet, the feeling of something having literally entered his house without his permission shook him to his core. He tightened his hold on Keith just a bit and buried his face into Keith's hair.

If only just for a moment, he needed to believe things would be okay.

Or else he might give into the fear that things would never be normal or okay ever again.


	4. Chapter 4

Honestly, the more he roamed about the old mansion, the more he came to realize there were plenty of spirits in this place. But, most of the spirits appeared to be from the time period of the manor itself. Wearing kimonos, yukatas, and other outfits that reminded him of what his grandparents and their parents before him wore for regular outfits. He only recalled wearing such in his younger years for ceremonies and other special occasions.

Did that mean these spirits were as old as the manor itself? Could these ghosts have been in torment for a couple of centuries if not longer? He swallowed as he lowered his camera, sending yet another spirit to rest. At least, he hoped each time he took their photo he wasn't having to hear their pained screams for nothing. And if the specters had been trapped in this place for that long, they deserved a chance to rest.

Though, with how he sometimes still encountered Veronica after their first fight, his heart sank at the likely possibility his camera did nothing to help any of the lost souls here. If he wasn't careful, he could end up here along with them. Permanently.

As he stepped into a courtyard, his mind shifted focus.

He blinked slowly at the snow coming down from the sky always dark and cloudy. He noticed the gravestones off to the side with lit candles in front of them. He furrowed his eyebrows as he recalled something that had happened prior to when the nightmares started.

 _Shiro walked about the ruins of a manor. Pidge was walking a few feet away from him, examining some of the broken wooden beams. "Really does look like an earthquake or something caused this place to collapse." He heard her say, watching her stand up out of the corner of his eye. "Either that or bad planning."_

" _You know what the locals said." He decided to remind her with a faint frown. "They said something bad happened here that caused the place to be abandoned and left to ruin like this."_

 _Pidge huffed slightly. "Yeah, but none of them would tell us what the bad thing was. So, it still could have been exactly the stuff I said."_

 _Shiro shrugged slightly as he went down a hallway that was still intact. "True." He called out to her before proceeding down the hallway a bit. He stopped though at seeing someone standing at the end of the L-shaped hallway. "Who's there?" He asked while leaning a bit to see if he could get a better view. Unfortunately, he wished he hadn't._

 _His heart clenched, and his eyes stung a bit. "A-Adam?" He knew he shouldn't be seeing Adam right now. But, he knew it wasn't impossible. Not anymore. That place now covered in water taught him that along with taking away his-_

" _Adam!" He called out as Adam turned away and headed down the hallway. He rushed after him, only to feel his mind become foggy. He closed his eyes, shaking his head a bit. Only when the fog cleared did he open his eyes. He looked about and realized he was no longer in the hallway. Instead, he was in a courtyard with snow coming down from the sky._

 _With gravestones on his right trying to raise up to the sky and candles lighting the way to the door on the other side._

"Is this really the same place?" Shiro slowly walked the path. It was like his daydream had been transplanted into the manor itself. Then again maybe that daydream, which Pidge shook him out of, was his first glimpse of the manor that would soon plague his sleep. He couldn't be sure. But, when he woke up, he would need to bring it up with Pidge and the others, especially Matt and Keith. Because for all he knew, maybe the two had experienced the daydream like he had.

If it was exactly like his dream, then when he opened the door he should see a place with a fireplace and a second-floor loft to it. Instead, when he got to the door and unlocked it with a key he found, the room in front of him was not that one.

He was in some entrance room with a hallway in front of him that looked to be cross shaped. Before he could really figure out more about the new room he found himself in, he saw someone some feet ahead of him.

Shiro's eyes widened. He swore his heart stopped, though he knew realistically it hadn't. Just his breath had left his lungs entirely at the person walking down the hallway in front of him. Even though he could not see their face, he recognized that tanned skin and dirty blonde hair anyway. He swore he even saw the edges of the black glasses the man always wore.

"Adam…" Shiro whispered and tried to follow his late fiancé. But, just as he got close enough that he swore his fingers, outstretched, could brush Adam's back, a white light completely blinded him, and he could no longer register anything.

As if he had been knocked out within his own nightmare, deprived of having some any sort of true closure. Just his luck.

Shiro woke up with his eyes wide and panting loudly, catching his breath. He sat up quickly before swallowing. "Adam." He muttered the name with a frown slowly forming on his face. "Are you somehow there too?" He asked yet prayed that he had only been seeing things. For while he wished he could get the chance to talk to Adam just one more time, he did not desire for Adam to somehow be stuck in that place after his death.

He gritted his teeth as sharp pains radiated from his right shoulder. He didn't dare to glance over his shoulder. Somehow, he just knew it was the tattoo spreading across his shoulder blades. Even if he decided to look, it would only remind him of his limited time. What time he had left until he too became like Veronica.

Once the pain stopped, he got out of the bed and changed into grey sweatpants and a black tank top. He didn't plan on going out today.

He opened his bedroom door and blinked at a bunch of racket from downstairs.

"Lance! Give me back my bacon!" Keith yelled and Shiro found himself moving to look over the railing to see what in the world was going on.

He saw Lance holding pieces of bacon up in the air while standing on the back of the couch. How Lance was balancing and not falling over presently was beyond him.

"No mullet! You had to eat all the eggs! So, I'm going to have the last bit of bacon!" Lance glared down while Shiro saw Matt facepalming and Pidge rolling her eyes.

"Ugh. So immature." Pidge complained loudly with a faint smirk on her face. Shiro saw Lance and Keith turn their heads at about the same time and glare at her.

"No, we aren't!" They said at the same time and then glared at each other.

"Don't be copying me, mullet!" 

"No, you were copying me!" Keith jabbed his finger into Lance's chest and grabbed for the bacon.

Lance lifted his hand higher into the air and stood now on his toes. "You aren't getting-ACK!"

Shiro tensed at Lance falling off the couch and hitting the floor.

Even though Pidge, Matt, and Keith laughed loudly, Shiro frowned and stared down at Lance. "You alright, Lance? Do you need any ice or anything?" He couldn't hide his concern as Lance sat up and looked up at him.

"At least someone has manners!" Lance pointed up at Shiro before grinning. "Naw, I'll be fine. I'm used to rough housing with my siblings. I'll live."

"I'm surprised you didn't take that as a chance to complain and play kiss up." Keith teased, and Lance glared at him.

"Really Keith? Not cool man!"

Shiro chuckled softly as the two went back to arguing.

The sight was a welcome distraction from what he had seen. Yet, when he saw Pidge looking at him and pointed between him and her before making a phone sign with her thumb and finger, her usual gesture for needing to talk, he knew there was no way to completely forget their circumstances for long. Not as long as his life and other lives were at stake.

"So, what did you find exactly?" Shiro asked while sitting on Pidge's bed. He saw Pidge sitting at her desk, shaking her head.

"Well, not much, but I think I got a lead to follow up on." Pidge turned in her seat to face Shiro. "You know how we said, after what happened to Veronica, that there were likely others having the nightmares? Well, apparently, there were rumors about that hospital about lost patients."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Lost patients? Like literally lost?"

Pidge huffed loudly. "No Shiro, pretty sure the hospital would look quite bad if they couldn't find literally lost patients." She grabbed something off her desk and Shiro noticed it was a notebook. "These patients were called lost because they would start sleeping most the day and become unresponsive. And when they did briefly wake up, they would start humming some lullaby none of the staff recognized." Pidge opened the notebook and flipped through it. "Till eventually they couldn't be awoken at all."

"Like Veronica." Shiro frowned before blinking. "Though wait, they all hummed some sort of lullaby?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to figure out more details on that. Seems odd they would be doing that. Have you caught yourself humming anything when you first wake up?"

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows before shaking his head. "Not that I recall."

"Well, I'll still look at it just in case. Lance did say he thought he heard Veronica once in the few days before her death humming something. But, he couldn't recall the notes or anything." She poked a page within her notebook slightly. "I'm hoping I can find a staff member that maybe recorded the lullaby and see if they'll let me have it."

Shiro smiled faintly. "Always one step ahead, Pidge. Couldn't ask for a better assistant." He stood up from the bed and headed towards the door.

"Though Shiro?" Shiro blinked at Pidge's hesitant tone.

"Yeah Pidge? Something the matter?" He frowned and noticed she was frowning too.

"Yeah…there's another reason I am looking into this whole lullaby thing." She looked at Shiro and placed the notebook back on her desk. "I went to wake up Matt when he stayed over the other night…and I swore I heard him humming a lullaby I didn't recognize."

Shiro's eyes widened and quickly tried to compose himself. "Pidge, I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just heard it on the radio or something."

Pidge scowled slightly. "Shiro, don't. I don't need false comfort. We both know what it likely means."

Shiro headed towards her. "Pidge." He leaned over once close enough and pulled her into a hug. "I swear nothing will happen to Matt, promise." He said against her hair, letting her tremble and cling onto him.

While he couldn't be sure how realistic it would be to promise such, he found himself not caring. He had to keep Matt safe. He had to keep everyone he cared about safe.

He wasn't sure he could handle the loss of yet another person. As he held her and did his best to not let his heart break at her quiet sobs, he shivered slightly. It was as if someone had placed their cold hand briefly on his shoulder. He swallowed and looked over his shoulder. His skin paled at the sight of an identical face peering at him.

"You should know not to make promises you can't keep, Takashi." The ghost smirked a bit before disappearing.

Shiro's heart raced, thumping loudly in his chest.

He found himself gripping onto Pidge tighter, grateful she didn't flinch or comment on it.

For not only was he sure he couldn't handle another loss, but he was sure a certain someone wouldn't mind if he lost everything after what he had to do to survive. And honestly, Shiro couldn't blame him one bit for his hatred. Just why now did he have to haunt him again, or was it the manor's doing that Shiro was seeing him again? He didn't want to question it right now.

He needed to be there for Pidge and the others. He needed to make sure Matt stayed alive. He needed to see if Adam truly was in the manor. He needed to be strong for everyone.

Yet on the inside, he found his heart breaking and barely holding on to a semblance of a not broken person. All because everything hung on a delicate balance with no way of knowing if any of them were going to make it out alive. And for someone like him to admit that was hard and only made the pain inside him worsen.

The pain of knowing he could easily fail and find himself terribly and utterly alone.


	5. Chapter 5

"Adam!" Shiro called out and raced towards the door. The double doors slammed shut in front of him, only catching a glimpse of his late fiancée. He punched the door, cringing at the pain that went through his hand and up his arm. He gritted his teeth while glaring at the door. "Outside of this dream I would have punched a hole through that door." He grumbled before backing away from the door. "I'll just have to figure out what the manor wants me to do to get in there."

He stepped away before turning to face the atrium with the tree and the skewered red dolls all around it. He sighed and walked around the tree. Just as he neared one of the hallways extending from the atrium, he heard a child singing.

"Hello?" He blinked and headed down the hallway. He found a door that reached his waist, causing him to have to crouch down to get through the doorway. He blinked at the room with all the walls covered in dolls nailed to them. "I think I might grow an aversion to dolls after this." Once he adjusted to that aspect of the room, he looked towards the table to see what looked like a mini shrine.

Before he could approach it though, he saw a little girl in a shrine maiden dress. He took a step back upon realizing she was transparent. "Oh no. There are ghosts of children here too?" His heart plummeted at that.

Unfortunately, when the girl started to attack him, he had no choice but to raise his camera and fight her like all the other ghosts. She was tricky in that she sometimes disappeared only to appear at his feet and tried to literally stake his feet! He had to quickly move around at that, grateful for his reflexes. It didn't take long before he found her disappearing but likely not bested.

The room started to spin as many voices started to sing the tune the girl had sung. The music became faint to his ears though, barely able to make out anything of it except parts of it.

"Sle…tess…in…ace."

And then he saw and heard no more.

He hated how each morning now, he had to prepare himself for the sharp pain across his shoulders. While he was used to phantom pain that could take the breath out of him, he was not used to a pain that spread across his body and felt like someone stabbing millions of needles into his skin at once. Maybe that was what an extreme version of acupuncture would feel like. He didn't want to know after this.

After the pain stopped, Shiro got out of bed. He got himself ready and opened the door. He peaked around the corner to Pidge's room door. The door was still shut. A faint frown showed on his face. "I hope she's alright." He stepped out of his room, shutting the door behind him. Usually, Pidge left the door open when she was up. So, for it to be shut, that meant somehow, he had gotten up before Pidge.

It had been a long time since that happened.

His body tensed at hearing loud snoring. He quickly turned towards Adam's old room. Just as Shiro felt his heart start to race, his mind recalled that Adam never snored. He took deep breaths to calm his heart and walked slowly towards old room. But, it wasn't easy to keep his heart from going out of control or his stomach from turning. Just nearing the room brought him into a state of panic.

He hadn't dared enter the room since Adam died. Yet, here he was, finding himself too curious and needing to know who in the world had decided to sleep in the abandoned pristine bedroom. His breathing became more like panting as he gripped the door frame and slowly entered the room. He walked in just enough to see the bed.

"Really?" Shiro groaned softly at seeing Matt lying on the bed. He figured it would have been Lance that would have done that! Only because he wasn't sure Lance had been told about Adam or not. Yet, there was Matt, snoring and all spread out across the bed. "You're just lucky you're my best friend." He narrowed his eyes before quickly leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Right after shutting the door, he face-palmed. "Damn. That probably would have been a good time to talk with him about-" He stopped himself at hearing faint singing.

He blinked a bit and walked down the hallway towards the railing. He peered over it to see Keith standing in front of the sliding glass door to the backyard. The singing seemed to be coming from Keith, but he couldn't make out the words from where he stood. Maybe Keith wasn't even singing words for all he knew.

Slowly, Shiro walked down the stairs. His gaze remained on Keith as he soon could make out the words once he was halfway down the stairs.

"Sleep, Priestess. Lie in Peace."

Where had he heard the words before? Shiro furrowed his eyebrows and slowly approached Keith. "Keith?" When Keith didn't respond to him and kept singing, Shiro reached his hand out towards Keith. Gently, he placed his hand on Keith's shoulder, giving the shoulder a squeeze. He tensed when Keith slightly jumped. But, Keith quickly relaxed and the two locked eyes.

"Yes Shiro?" Keith asked as if he hadn't been singing just a few moments ago.

"Um…" Shiro removed his hand from Keith's shoulder and swallowed. "I haven't heard that tune before. Where did you hear it from?"

Shiro watched Keith blink a bit before tensing, even more than before, and paling a bit.

"Keith?" Shiro called out again, noticing Keith slowly relaxing but still not looking all that comfortable. He stared at the other and put a small smile on his face. "I'm here for you, alright?" It felt natural to say that even after all the years since they last saw each other.

" _Takashi!" He blinked and turned to see Keith running towards him. His eyes widened at seeing Keith's_ _eyes watery and tears pouring down his face._

" _Keith! What's wrong?" Shiro quickly wrapped his arms around the younger boy once Keith was close enough._

" _My dad! He…he…he died saving trying to save a little girl!" Keith cried out and hugged Shiro tightly. "Now I'm all alone!"_

 _Shiro shook his head, nuzzling the top of Keith's head. "No, you are not alone. You got me and Kuron." He kissed the top of Keith's head. "I'm here for you. Always."_

"I know." Keith responded in a quick almost distracted way.

Shiro snapped out of his reverie at that, a frown on his face. "Hey, I know I didn't keep to my word and I should have-" He cut himself off at Keith gripping his shoulder.

"No, it has nothing to do with that." Keith kept the hand there. "I just didn't want to let you know. But, I guess it's getting harder to hide it."

Shiro blinked slightly. "Hide what?"

Keith turned to face him and gripped his shirt.

"Uh, Keith?" Shiro only had enough time to say that before Keith quickly took off his shirt.

Shiro's cheeks faintly reddened and he shook his head.

"You might not be able to see it readily. But, it's there." Keith pointed to his back. "A tattoo like yours."

Shiro's eyes widened, quickly moving to stand behind Keith. Keith's back looked toned and lean. He could easily trail the spine and the shoulder blades if he wanted to. But, he kept his hands to himself, using the lighting to see if he could see anything. As he furrowed his eyebrows and leaned forward slightly, he caught a brief glimpse of red decorative markings across Keith's shoulders and back. Before he could see what the markings really looked like, the markings disappeared.

"Keith…" Shiro swallowed while feeling his chest clench. He watched Keith put back on the shirt.

"The lyrics I think are from a lullaby those shrine maiden girls sing." Keith said abruptly, leaving no room for Shiro to say anything else. "I can't say for sure. I just sometimes wake up singing it. At first, it was just the notes. Now I'm recalling the words while awake too."

Shiro nodded slowly and took a deep breath to ease the clenching in his chest. "Pidge mentioned hearing Matt humming a tune. She thinks it's the lullaby the other victims of the curse tended to hum or sing." Shiro saw Keith looking at him over his shoulder. "You think it's the same one?"

He saw Keith narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm going to assume so. But, I had no idea Matt might be caught up in the manor too." Shiro heard Keith sigh softly. "Maybe it's due to what happened to Sam."

Shiro frowned, looking off to the side. "I hadn't even thought about that."

In all the chaos in the aftermath of Adam's death, Shiro realized he focused more so on himself than on how Matt and Pidge had to deal with the loss of their father. It had only been a few months before Adam died that Sam Holt had disappeared while checking out a different abandoned mansion. Unfortunately, his body was found with arms, legs, and head missing. They had only been able to identify him based on some personal belongings found nearby and some birth marks.

No wonder Matt might be haunted by the desire to see his father again. Pidge might be too. He swallowed and felt nauseous at the idea Pidge might start having the dreams too, if she hadn't already. He had taken her to that place after all. If he had caused his best friend's sister to suffer along with them…

"Shiro." Keith looked at him. "Don't blame yourself. You've been through a lot lately."

He swore Keith had a talent for knowing when to not let his mind drown in thought. "Right. I just don't want to see the people I care about suffer, you know?" Shiro mentioned, catching a glimpse of Keith smiling at him in the process.

"I know. In some ways, you really haven't changed." Keith smiled more and Shiro found himself smiling as well. Shiro lifted his arm slowly towards Keith's cheek.

"EEEKKK! LEEGGGSS!"

Both Keith and Shiro jumped a bit, quickly turning to see Lance backing quickly away from the closet nearby the kitchen. "I swore I saw legs! What the world?!"

Shiro groaned slightly, rubbing at his temple. He caught Keith rolling his eyes out of the corner of his eye. A small chuckled escaped his lips. "Let's just hope that was Lance seeing things." Shiro heard Keith chuckle as well.

"Yeah, let's hope."

Because neither of them could see any legs from where they stood. "Though Lance! Since you probably woke up the whole house, why don't you fix breakfast? You might as well for doing that!" Keith smirked over at Lance who was pouting.

"I didn't make it up though! I did see legs! Creepy ghost legs!" Lance pointed to the closet before sighing loudly. "But finnneee! I get to treat you all to a classic Cuban breakfast then! Woohoo!" Lance rushed into the kitchen.

"Should I be scared?" Shiro whispered while glancing at Keith.

"No, he ain't that bad. Just don't eat anything you can't tell what it is, and you'll be good." It was hard to tell if Keith was being serious or joking, his tone shifting between the two a little too easily.

Shiro nodded, figuring that was as good of advice as any.

"Oh, yesterday, Matt told me he got some tape transcribed for us to listen to. Says it might give us some info on the actual manor as well as the dream manor. We could probably listen to it after breakfast if you want."

At hearing that, Shiro thanked his lucky stars. Now that would be a good time to talk to Matt about Pidge's suspicions. "Sounds good." He said before sitting by the kitchen counter.

He could only hope the conversation would go over well.


	6. Chapter 6

After Lance's Cuban style breakfast (which turned out pretty good in his opinion), Shiro took the chance to go upstairs to the room Matt was using. Lance and Matt kept swapping using Adams' room. He heard it had something to do with the couch not being the most comfortable…Now wasn't the time to think about that. As he glanced behind his shoulder to see Keith following him, Pidge's room door opened on him.

He tensed just as he found his head barely an inch away from the door. "Oh crap! Sorry!" Pidge shut the door behind her. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Shiro quickly said and smiled at her. "I just wasn't paying attention." The smile looked strained slightly at hearing Keith snickering faintly behind him. "How are you doing today?" 

Pidge shrugged. "I'm good. What are you two up to?"

"Keith mentioned Matt had a tape transcribed for us. We were going to go listen to it." Shiro looked at Pidge, seeing her furrowing her eyebrows and purse her lips a bit. "Why don't you come with us?" He put a smile back on his face. "Maybe it will help you with your own research."

"Yeah sure!" Pidge grinned slightly and all three of them went towards Adam's room. Shiro swallowed slightly while reaching his hand toward the doorknob. He blinked when a different hand shot out and gripped the doorknob. "I can do it." Keith's voice echoed in his ears faintly as he watched Keith open the door.

 _Keith_. Shiro smiled faintly before following Pidge and Keith into the room.

"Oh hey! Bigger posse than I thought! Is Lance going to join in?" Matt asked after turning himself and the chair he was in towards them.

"No, Lance is helping to clean up the dishes. He said to just update him on it later." Shiro leaned against the wall with the large window. He looked towards the window as Pidge and Keith found their spots within the room. His mind went back to a day when Adam stood in front of the window, the curtains pulled to the sides and showing the gray clouds unleashing rain onto the world.

" _Do you know why rainy days are the days I love the most?" The question from Adam had lingered in his sleep groggy mind. "Because it gives me an excuse to stay in and be with you a bit longer."_

Shiro blinked slightly at hearing the tape recorder going, snapping himself out of the flashback. Matt read out loud the words from his transcript, though Shiro was able to pick up some of the words from the tape itself.

"I keep having dreams of the manor. The one covered in snow." A recorded feminine voice played from the recorder, not meshing well with Matt's "narration" voice. "I see a funeral procession heading inside the manor. Amongst the procession, I saw her. I saw my fiancé. I called out to her, but it was like she could not hear me. Then, I would wake up." Shiro frowned while picking up a gurgled male voice. He couldn't make out the words. Matt must have not been able to either. Then, the woman spoke again. "And each night, I would find myself closer and closer to the manor until last night. I entered the manor and encountered a tattooed woman." Shiro heard the tape cut off.

"That's all I got right now on that tape. Another one I'm working on has a man talking about waking up with a painful tattoo on himself and a third tape that mentions the lullaby. Who knew trying to transcribe and preserve old tapes would be such a pain?" Matt chuckled. "But, I do love myself a challenge." He grinned now. "I'll let you know when I got the others done."

"Right-" Shiro tried to say something, but he stopped himself at seeing Pidge turned towards her brother with a scowl on her face.

"Speaking of that lullaby, I've heard you hum that more than once in your sleep! And I gathered information that made it sound like people experiencing the curse sometimes did the same thing." Pidge's voice wavered, and her body trembled slightly. "So, are you cursed?" The question was now out in the open.

Shiro looked over at Keith who was frowning. Did Keith already know the answer, or was Keith worried about someone else being involved in this whole curse issue?

"Oh crude! I did not mean to worry you like that!" Matt cried out while frowning. "I mean yeah, I could see why you thought that. But see, I've just been listening to that song so much I must have started humming it in my sleep!" He outstretched his arms towards them with his palms up. "See? I don't got any markings!"

Shiro frowned slightly. "Matt, the tattoos aren't that obvious. They appear and disappear at will. You know that." He sighed softly. "I want to take your word for it. It would be better for all of us, including you, if you weren't dealing with the curse as well." He couldn't help but feel a bit of tension start in his shoulders. "Because if you are also cursed…" He wrapped his arm around his torso, cradling himself. "I would really feel helpless."

He tensed more when he felt arms around him. The tension left though upon realizing it was Matt and not some figment of his imagination. "Hey, such a handsome man like me would never get himself cursed!" Of course, Matt somehow found the capability to tease in their situation. "After all, the world still needs my presence." They both ended up laughing as Matt let go of him.

"Yes, because the world wouldn't know what to do without you." Shiro smiled faintly. "I know I wouldn't. And I'm sure Pidge feels the same."

He glanced over at Pidge, seeing a smile on her face. "Yeah, just don't let it get to your head more than it already has, Matt." Pidge joked with the smile becoming a grin. "Though seriously, stick to your day job. Your night humming freaks me out."

Matt pouted slightly. "Hey, the ladies love a good singer." He joked back and smiled at the three of them. "I'll come down in a bit and get myself some leftover breakfast. I need to talk to Keith for a few minutes."

Shiro raised an eyebrow and looked over at Keith. Keith shrugged. "Yeah, we were looking into something related to the curse. We're collaborating to make it easier to gather all the information quicker. We'll tell you about it when we come down."

"Alright. See you two in a bit." Shiro quickly headed out of the room. Hearing the rain start to come down within Adam's room only reminded him once more of Adam's smiling face that he would never see again.

He heard the door close behind him, jumping slightly. He looked over his shoulder and felt bad at realizing he forgot Pidge must have followed him out. "I wonder what they are working on?" She tilted her head while walking slightly behind Shiro. "I figured they would have mentioned working on something by now, right?"

"You would think. But, I trust them to know what they are doing." Shiro turned slightly and ruffled her hair. "Now, let's go see if Lance needs our help cleaning up."

"So, you lied." Keith scowled slightly. "You could have just told them the truth."

Matt sighed loudly. "They would have freaked out and you know it. And like I said, I just started having the dreams. I haven't had an encounter with the tattooed lady yet. So, as far as "cursed" goes, I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything about having the dreams."

Keith shook his head and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I know. Shiro wasn't too happy when I told him. But, he caught me humming and all that and well…it felt like the old days a bit." Keith smiled just barely. "When I couldn't lie well, and I always felt bad lying to him or Kuron. Then again, maybe it's just more I've gotten better about not feeling guilty."

"Who knows." Matt grinned slightly. "But, you have wanted to be close to Shiro again, or should I say Takashi?" The grin grew more, and he laughed at feeling Keith slap his arm.

"Shut it Matt!" Keith's cheeks faintly reddened. "This isn't the time for that. And besides, he's clearly still chasing after Adam's ghost. He would need to let go of his heartache before I would have a chance." Keith frowned more. "Do you think it is because of his grief that he's cursed now?"

Matt frowned while working on one of the tapes. "Well, it could be because of Adam. But, it could be because of Kuron too or his parents. He's had more than one loss in his life. If the loss still lingers inside you like a disease, then I think the Manor and its curse can use that loss against you." He tapped quickly and gently against the keys of his laptop. "What is scary is that I believe, based on previous accounts, that you don't have to visit the physical ruined manor to be cursed."

"So, you've been able to confirm that?" Keith scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, couldn't that mean the curse could spread like a virus? Like in that one horror movie?"

Matt shook his head. "Maybe amongst those with traumatic loss or grief they haven't dealt with. It could spread amongst them possibly. But, they say not one person handles loss or grief the exact same or even handles it again the same way." He pointed to a photo nearby the bed of Adam and Shiro. "The way Shiro deals with Adam's death has been different than how he has dealt with Kuron's death for example. It's possible the curse knows which loss will hurt the person the most and uses that one specifically."

Keith swallowed. "Like my father."

"Yeah, exactly like how the manor uses your father against you." Matt slid the chair over to the bed the best he could (curse the carpet) and placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Have you seen him lately?"

Keith shook his head. "No, but I'm sure I will soon. Just a feeling." He clenched and unclenched his fists. "Just like I'm sure I'm due another visit from _her_."

Matt looked away. "Just be careful alright?" He moved the chair back in front of the desk. "Even with your unique state and all, that doesn't mean the curse can't kill you too. And I'm not sure we want to find out what would happen to you if the tattoo covers you like it did Veronica and others before her."

"Yeah." Keith glanced down at one of his hands. "I'm less worried about that though and more so about Shiro. I heard the rumors about what happened to Kuron. I even went back to that place they found Shiro at and where Kuron went missing. It was where we used to play at as kids." He gripped his shirt slightly right above his heart. "Now it's covered in water from that dam. But, it felt different than it did back in the past. Like something had been freed…the oppressive feeling no longer there."

"Does that mean that village really did exist then? The one beyond the stones and all of that?" Keith looked over at Matt and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I can't be for sure. I never saw it myself. If it did exist though, and clearly the Manor can take images of other places into it…" He frowned, and he looked down at his feet. "Then I'm sure the Manor could bring bits of that village into it as well.

Matt nodded and opened a desk drawer. "We're lucky Shiro still has issues being in here." He gripped an old worn book, placing it on the bed with his outstretched arm. "Or else he would find out we're researching more than just the Manor."

Keith gripped the book gently in his hands, slowly opening it. "Yeah." He took a deep brief and looked at the words inside the book.

 _"The gate to hell is called the_ _._

 _Gaze not upon the_ _._

 _Eyes that glimpse the_ _will be blinded by the_ _._

 _Speak not of the_ _._

 _The mouth which utters_ _will be made speechless by the_ _._

 _Listen not to the_ _._

 _Those who heed the_ _are turned heartless by the_ _."_

"And it truly seems like that place had a curse of its own." Keith muttered while continuing to read the book. All in hopes of preparing himself, and hopefully Shiro, for what else might lie ahead.


	7. Chapter 7 Part 1

"Your father is waiting."

"Wake up."

Slowly, he opened his eyes. Instead of lying on the bed, he realized he was standing straight up. He rubbed at his eyes to clear his vision. His nose became itchy from the strong smell of dust, mold, and rotten wood. After finally getting himself to sneeze, he saw the fallen ceiling beam in front of him and the latticed walls on his left and right. He swallowed and glanced over his shoulder.

The double wooden doors were once again barricaded. The same entrance he remembered going through all those years ago. His heart dropped to his stomach realizing he was there again. Well, sort of. He turned his back towards the doors and back towards the fallen ceiling beam. From the other times he had been here, he knew he wouldn't have to worry about more of the ceiling falling onto him. After all, this place before him was not the same as the one he entered in his mid-teens.

No, it was simply the manor's attempt to replicate the Himuro Mansion. Yet, like all the other times he had dreamt himself into this place…

"Don't you wish to see your father?"

"Come this way."

His body tensed at catching a brief glimpse of tattooed woman standing in front of the hole in the floor. Her mouth didn't move though. He lifted the flashlight, that had appeared in his hand, and aimed it at the door on the left side of the room. A young girl in a shrine maiden's outfit stared back at him. "Right this way!" The girl giggled and then disappeared behind the door.

He rolled his eyes slightly. "I really wish they would leave me the hell alone."

He walked further into the room, making sure not to fall into the hole that appeared to be swallowed in complete darkness. Once he walked around that bit of destruction, he entered the left side door and saw a familiar hallway. The one with the ropes that hung from the ceiling and ended with a mirror at the t shape crossroad of hallways.

When his flashlight reflected something on the ground in front of the mirror, he scowled. _Well, seems they really want to involve me this time._ Whilehe wished pinching or knocking himself out would wake himself up, he had already tried that previous times. He only woke up when the Manor allowed him to leave. It was annoying. So, he had no other choice but to go down that hallway and pick up the Camera Obscura that looked exactly like the one his father had owned. He swore the camera body had the same indent on the right side from when it took a nasty fall. The Manor did well sometimes at mimicry.

He placed the camera in his bag for now. He tensed again at the tattooed woman appearing in the mirror. This time, he heard no voices though and she disappeared quickly. "Dammit." He muttered to himself, glaring at the reflective surface. He huffed softly before turning away and headed down the right hallway. He raised an eyebrow when the doorway was locked and boarded up as if forbidding him access.

Did the Manor not replicate the Manion exactly? He furrowed his eyebrows and went down the other hallway. He opened that door and saw the rows of tatami doors leading to a small shrine. That was the same from years ago. When he got to the shrine though and looked at the other door of the room, he noticed a stone puzzle not on the door before. The Himuro Mansion had puzzles like this and sometimes the Mansion did change on him.

However, he never recalled one whose inscription had a theme of sleep to it.

" _Engrave in the pedestal the same number of pains as are engraved on the sleeping stone."_

Not like he could do much to solve the puzzle since he was missing one of the stones. He knew that meant he had to go all the way back to the entrance and see if he could get into the other room. The one that hadn't opened for him until he had a mask. Guess he would have to find some mask first.

As he headed back to the door he came in from, he heard loud noises behind him. He turned quickly and took out the Camera. He gritted his teeth at having to jump back to avoid a hatchet blow from a ghost. "Now how in the hell are you here?" He frowned and raised the camera to take a photo of the Himuro Family Master. He swore the ghost should have gone on to rest like all the others trapped in the Mansion. But here he was, facing a ghost that looked exactly like the bloodied figure. How did the Manor do that?

He had to keep moving around the room to keep from getting hit by the blade, that while see through, could still cut him deeply if he got too cocky. Only when the ghost's cry echoed and faded did he assume he was safe for now. The bastard had a bad habit of seemingly teleporting. Though, guess he got lucky (or maybe unlucky), and the doppelganger ghost dropped a mask and it happened to be the mask that copied the looks of the other masks. How convenient.

It didn't take him long to get back to the door that required the mask. Once he placed the white mask onto the hangings, he saw the mask become a wooden devil mask. He went to open the door but stopped himself. He glanced towards the double wooden doors and saw a blue shimmer across them. He raised the camera, taking a picture of it. When the camera revealed the image causing the blue shimmer, he swallowed. _Why that place? Why?_

He gripped the camera tightly and took some deep breaths to calm his heart. After getting a hold of himself, he opened the masked door.

His eyes widened. "What?"

How did he end up in the room with stone crossways and planks connecting them instead of the long hallways full of other mask doors? He looked over his shoulder to see the entrance room behind him. He looked between the two rooms again before shaking his head and shutting the door behind him. He moved the flashlight about and saw the water that was still dark and unclear beneath the planks.

 _The room looks the same, but why would the Manor make these two rooms connected? Maybe I can Matt about it if I remember this detail in the morning._

He walked across the planks. He stopped on one of the planks at the sight of a long-haired ghost. "Fuck! You kidding me?" He hated fighting ghosts back then on the planks! He really didn't care for it now! Though, he did notice he didn't recognize this ghost at all. Her outfit, long black hair, and the calling out for someone just did not register to him (then again, he had seen more than one ghost of that description. Maybe she just blended with the others).

He jumped across the stone crossways to dodge her and kept taking pictures. After his previous experience, he knew how to take shots that took a good amount of damage while keeping the amount of shots to a minimum. After the ghost disappeared for now, he went towards the door and saw a familiar stone puzzle. The one with the certain amount of moves and getting the stones to all their proper places.

He took the stone off the ground and placed it onto the protruding door lock. It took him a couple of tries to get the Japanese stone character into their proper place before hearing the door unlock. This time, he prepared himself to not see the garden with the bamboo thicket or the well. He opened the door and found himself in a room close to that area though.

"How ironic to be here again." He remembered this being where the rope shrine maiden had been locked away when alive. While he caught sight of the shrine maiden girl from earlier, he saw no sign of the rope shrine maiden either her corrupted self, innocent self, or whole self. Could the Manor not copy her? This time though, the girl simply stared at him before disappearing. Why were ghosts so cryptic?

As he moved the flashlight about, he saw the door on the other side was stone doors. He narrowed his eyes. Would that lead to the place in the photo from earlier? He quickly made his way to the door and pushed the doors open as fast as he could. Might as well get it over with. And damn he just had to be right.

He just had to end up in the room with the rope altar. The place where the maidens had been placed and had their very body parts painfully torn from them while alive. He shuddered at how much the altar looked the same as the one from years ago with even the dried blood still caked onto the platform. While slowly moving about the room, he noticed another set of stone doors. Could that possibly lead to the same place his father had sacrificed himself?

Before he could go over and check that out, he saw the wooden pillars around the altar start to move of their own accord. His vision became flooded with the sight of the woman with ropes on her neck, wrists, and feet, being slowly pulled apart. His stomach turned, and his heart raced. Just as he saw the skin starting to tear and blood pour onto the platform, he clenched his eyes shut. He walked back until his back hit the stone wall. Only once the sounds of the woman's cries silenced themselves did he dare to open his eyes again.

A ghost floated in the air that appeared to not have all her parts above the altar now. He could see a head still attached, but he couldn't quite see her legs or much of her arms. Her frail form and raggedy clothes looked nothing like the rope shrine maiden of years ago. "Guess they couldn't copy you after all."

Which meant as he fought this ghost, he didn't feel like his life was on the line. Not like back then when getting into contact with the powerful woman would have caused more ropes to appear on him until he was torn up into pieces like Mr. Holt. He kept taking photos and hearing the ghosts' screams until the camera could no longer detect her.

He put up the camera and headed towards the stone doors he hadn't used to enter the room. He placed his hands on the doors. "Dad…" He tried to push the doors, but they wouldn't bulge. He huffed at that. "Guess that was stupid to think I could see you again…" He backed away from the door and headed back the way he came. With how he had done what he assumed the blue shimmer had wanted from him, he figured he could at least leave the mansion.

When he got back to the entrance and headed towards the door, he heard the shrine maiden girl again.

"He's this way."

He raised an eyebrow and looked to see her pointing to the left hallway. Did he dare follow? He furrowed his eyebrows and tried the wooden doors. He glared at them not bulging. "Should have known." He gritted his teeth. It looked like he had no choice.

He headed towards the hallway with the hanging ropes and saw the girl now heading down the hallway that had ended in the boarded door.

This time, the door was unlocked, and he was able to open it.

He stepped into a room that was very unfamiliar to him. He let his body become a bit tense and ready to spring into action if need be. He turned the corner and the girl once again walked around the corner. He stomped down the hallway with his gaze focused on where the girl went. His eyes widened when he saw something or someone coming down the other hallway.

He jumped back and lifted the camera in front of his face.

"Keith?"

His eyes widened when he caught sight of a man with grey eyes and dark hair with a white tuft of hair in the front in his camera's viewfinder.

"…Shiro?"


	8. Chapter 7 Part 2

"Keith is that you?" Shiro asked with a faint hint of surprise. As he saw the person lower their viewfinder, he could definitely tell that was Keith now. He sighed with a smile on his face. "I'm glad to see someone that is not a ghost for once. Last time I saw someone still alive…" The smile went away at recalling Veronica.

"Trust me, Shiro. I think I still got a bit before I would be in Veronica's state." He heard Keith try to sound reassuring as Keith approached him. "But, have you found anything? I haven't yet since I just came out of a part of the mansion that uh…I think was made just for me."

Shiro blinked at that. "Just for you?"

Keith nodded. "The parts were all jumbled up, but it was definitely a place I had been to before. The place where I lost my father." He frowned and looked down at the ground.

"I do remember learning about your father going missing. I am so sorry." Shiro placed his hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezed it. "You two were always so close."

"Yeah." Keith looked at him. "But, he didn't just go missing. He died." He raised his hand to signal Shiro to wait a moment before he continued. "My father went to a place called Himuro Mansion. When he went missing, I went after against my father's friends' wishes." He scowled while clenching his fists. "And because the Hell Gate was there and about to open, my father felt the need to sacrifice himself to help."

"Keith…" Shiro frowned and glanced away. "Maybe you would believe me then if I told you how Kuron died."

"Huh?" Keith blinked. "So, he is dead and not missing?"

Shiro nodded. "Yeah, in fact…he said he would pay you a visit. So, be prepared to see him at some point."

Keith raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

Shiro turned away from Keith, his back slightly to him. "Because I encountered my brother earlier and realized there is a place in this mansion just for me as well."

 __

 _He groaned faintly as his eyes slowly opened. The wooden bars in front of him caused his stomach to turn. Where he was before hadn't been a cell. But, it wasn't the first time the manor had teleported him to a different part. However, the glimpses of red butterflies hadn't happened before. Not here. The last time he saw them, it was in a place he would rather forget. Yet, as the butterflies fluttered about the inside of the cell, he knew the manor must have replicated the same insects from years ago._

 _He couldn't forget the way they fluttered about calmly through the air as if nothing could impede them. Their faint glow made them easy to spot and hard to ignore. He took a shaky breath as he dared to lower his flashlight towards the floor of the cell. A male figure sat in front of the low desk, looking down. Their hair was longer than his own, reaching a little past their shoulders. A white streak followed down from the top of their head towards the ends of their strands. As if he could forget whose hair that belonged to._

" _If only we could be together…" The male spoke softly, voice cracking as if unused. "But, you just had to kill me, didn't you?" Quickly, the male turned his head towards him. Shiro knew he would see the same features as his own except without the scar across his face. "Dearest brother."_

 _Shiro took a step back and felt his hands tremble. "How are you here? You should be a butterfly having found your peace! I saw you! You even came back towards me…" He trailed off, feeling his heart race. "Knowing you were able to pass on safely was my only comfort." He stated with his voice starting to waver._

 _The man chuckled loudly. "As if the manor here cares. You just had to get caught up in some stupid mess again, didn't you?" The prisoner stood up and moved to stand in front of the bars. "But see, if this plays out like last time, you know the ghosts will just spirit me out of this cell at some point and then you won't be able to reach me. Again." The man smirked slightly. "Guess I'll take comfort knowing this will repeat for you all over again._

" _You don't have to sound so spiteful about it." Shiro glared faintly at his brother. "You've definitely changed since the last time I saw you." He huffed loudly while glancing at the locks. "Doesn't matter though. I don't care what you say. I would still be willing to repeat this to allow you to rest because I care for you." He tugged at the locks, noticing they were light and shadow based…just like all those years ago. "I'll be back with the keys."_

 _Just after saying that, he noticed a crimson butterfly flying towards the door next to him and disappearing. It really was like the incident all over again._

" _Why wouldn't someone turn a bit asshole knowing they were possessed by some ghost and made to be a village's sacrificial bitch?" Shiro saw Kuron tapping the side of his temple and then shaking his head. "If that doesn't sour your damn attitude, then I wouldn't know what would." Kuron rolled his eyes and sat back down on the ground. "Do say hi to Keith for me though. That is, if I don't say hi to him first."_

 _Shiro looked over at Kuron. "Wait, how do you know he is here?"_

" _Guess the manor let me know or maybe I'm suddenly all knowing." Kuron snickered._

" _Yes well, don't tell Keith about what happened, alright?"_

 _Kuron snorted. "I can tell him what I want to. I'm dead after all, and he'll find out sooner or later." The two twins locked eyes. "I have a feeling definitely sooner rather than later."_

 _Shiro swallowed at that and quickly left the room. Without thinking, he ran as quickly as he could until he found himself lost and wondering the mansion once again…_

"So, you are trying to find those keys?" Keith asked, causing Shiro to have his eyes widen.

"Wait you…are focused on that?" He figured Keith would ask about the whole killing his brother thing. Instead, Keith still looked at him the same way he had before. Warm and respectful.

"Yeah? I figured you didn't do what you did out of pleasure." Keith smiled faintly. "Besides, I know it's probably best we focus more so on saving his ass than talking about him. Otherwise, things might really repeat again." He placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "So, let's go."

Shiro smiled faintly. "Maybe later, when we are both ready…we can talk about what our own incidents in more detail." He placed his hand over Keith's briefly, squeezing it. "But, you are right, we should work on finding those keys." He moved his hand off and then looked about the area. "I just had some difficulty getting through the rest of that…village area. Maybe you can help?"

Keith nodded. "Sure. After that though, I got to figure out what this one girl ghost wants with me."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Sure she doesn't want a piece of you?"

The two chuckled. "Trust me, I don't think a little creepy girl priestess wants me as her boyfriend." He lightly punched Shiro in the shoulder. "Think you would be willing to help me with that though?"

Shiro smiled warmly at him. "Sounds good to me."


	9. Chapter 8

The two walked down a few various hallways. A reminder of the almost labyrinth nature of this place. He made little knicks on the wall as best he could. If it was like Himuro mansion though, it might not matter. The place may shapeshift again. Morph itself to where open routes became impassable and vice versa. But, he needed the assurance. Just anything to know he had some control of his situation.

"Keith?" Shiro's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hm?" He said while turning his head to look at him.

"You alright?"

Of course, Shiro was concerned. When wasn't the guy though?

He huffed faintly. "Yeah, I'm fine." He shifted his gaze forward. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Shiro asked while raising an eyebrow.

Was Shiro not going to give up on the matter? This time, he didn't dare to meet Shiro's eyes. "This place. The past. That's all." Sure, maybe he should be willing to be more open with details. He did tell the childhood friend about what happened to his father. It was different to go into specifics. To mention how he saw things he can't un-see.

A priestess with her limbs and head slowly and agonizingly tugged off her body. The sight of the blood that poured from the five gaping wounds. The arm he swore twitched just once as it landed. Her eyes that were forever wide and full of dread. The mouth that would remain open, forever screaming silently. He didn't quite wish to scare Shiro with the images.

Then again, what had Shiro seen in that place where he lost Kuron? What else besides the life draining out of his brother's eyes by his own hands? He frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. Did he really have any right to add on to Shiro's scars?

"I see." Shiro only spoke two words. Enough for Keith to know the man was letting go of the subject. Yet, was that really the end of it? He glanced quickly over to see Shiro not looking at him. Maybe Shiro wasn't in the mood to pry persistently. Maybe he was just waiting for Keith to say it on his own? He snorted faintly to himself. He needed to stop overthinking and focus.

"So, do we know where the keys are exactly?" He asked as they approached a door that stood out to him. Not necessarily in its looks. The door itself appeared about the same as most of the other doors in this place. It was the presence behind it that stood out to him. A different sort of oppressiveness than the Mansion or the Manor. What exactly was the place the Manor had dragged into its grasp?

He watched Shiro open the door. "I can only guess. This place is scrambled. More so than probably your mansion area." Shiro stepped inside and Keith followed. "After all, the Manor tried condensing only a part of a whole village. Mainly the Kurosawa house." Kurosawa? Keith furrowed his eyebrows. The last name tugged at some sort of memory. Something important. Nothing came to mind though except for a faint image of a young girl.

"I have a feeling one of the keys will be beyond the room currently haunted by the Kusabi."

"Huh, Kusabi?" Keith hadn't heard that name before. He noticed Shiro standing in front of a cell. He noticed someone sitting casually in the cell, looking at both with a shit-eating grin.

"Well well! Looks like I didn't need to burst myself out to get to see you again." The voice, deeper than he remembered, was slightly soothing. Another piece in the puzzle of his past.

"Kuron." Keith said and moved to stand beside Shiro. "So, looks like you got yourself into trouble again, huh?" He smirked slightly. "And look who has to help you out? Seems like the tables have turned huh?" The smirk lingered on his face even as Kuron rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Yeah yeah, you get to be on your high horse for a bit there, Keith boy." Kuron stood up and stretched himself. "Good thing you still can joke." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked between the two of them. "So, needed help to get just a few keys, brother? That scared of your old demons?"

Keith scowled. "Hey, don't get on him." He stepped slightly in front of Shiro and growled a bit.

Kuron laughed. "Ahhhh, still protective of Takashi I see? Wonder if you remember how protective we both were of you." He focused his gaze on Shiro. "Better remember that yourself, Takashi." He smirked slightly. But, something about his eyes was unnerving. Almost as if he was hinting at something.

"I do remember, Kuron." Shiro lowered his voice a bit and glared at his brother. "Now, let's go Keith. We need to find those keys or else Kuron will find even more reason to get on my nerves."

Keith shook his head. "Guess that hasn't changed." He followed Shiro towards the other door in the room. Yet, Shiro didn't open the door. Instead, Shiro had his hand linger in the air. Shiro's skin looked paler now. His pupils were a bit blown too. "Shiro?" He looked over his shoulder towards Kuron. The smirk on his face caused him to scowl. "What's beyond that door?"

"Ohhhh! Now I get why you got lost. You didn't want to face it again. A reminder of what happened to me?"

"Kuron! Explain!" Keith glared while clenching his fists.

"It's the Kusabi he's feeling. It's a ghost neither of us could really do much about. Guess it was like the sacrifice to buy time until the actual ritual they used. You know, to prevent the bad shit from happening." Kuron waved his hand a bit and shrugged. "But the guy was as bitch that could kill you in one hit normally. Think it only got weak enough to really deal with near that place." He pointed to Shiro. "Shiro's likely recalling the place."

Keith placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "We can just run through alright? Either that, or I'll fight it and you can get the keys."

Shiro turned his head towards him. "Keith." He looked down at the ground. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Well, if you don't want me to do it on my own, then we can do it together. Either that, or you're just going to have to trust me. You wanted to free your brother, right?"

Shiro nodded slowly.

"Then, what is it going to be?" Keith squeezed the shoulder before removing his hand.

Shiro sighed softly before smiling. "Alright. I think it would be a good idea for one of us to focus on the keys and the other person to act as a distraction." He rested his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Just be careful. I don't know how weak or powerful this Kusabi is here. I…am not even sure if this is the same one, I faced before." He lowered his hand and gripped the door. "So, be careful?"

"I will." Keith smiled faintly and entered the room after Shiro.

He heard loud groaning noises. He frowned faintly at realizing the ghost was still suffering from pain. Death did not give that soul release. He watched Shiro quickly move around the center of the room. Keith ran into the center of the room while taking out his camera obscura. He took a deep breath and moved the camera in front of his face.

"Come on. Let's go Kusabi." He took a picture. But he tensed at realizing the camera had no effect. The picture showed and all. However, the ghost acted unfazed. "Well, guess I'll just have to try the old-fashioned way." He put the camera up while placing his hands in front of him, clenching his fists. "Not sure this will work…but better than just standing around or running around."

Not like he had a chance to see if he could make contact with a ghost with his bare hands. It was only when his father told him the truth before he died that Keith would even think it was possible. Might as well try it now!

He waited until the Kusabi came closer before bringing his arm back and thrusting his fist forward in a straight line. He saw his fist pass through the ghost. He tensed a bit. "Well fuck." Quickly, he jumped back to avoid the ghost's touch. Next opportunity, he lifted his leg and kicked with a snap. Same as before. "Dammit!" What use was being what he was again?

He glared as he now felt like he had to keep dodging now. He gritted his teeth when the ghost's hand clawed at his shoulder. Blood showed up along the claw marks. He placed a hand over the wounds to compress it. He kept moving around the room, sometimes slamming into the walls. At hearing a door open, he grinned a bit. "Shiro!"

His eyes widened when he noticed it wasn't Shiro who had entered the room.

"You all were too slow. And honestly? Both of you forgot that hello? I'm a ghost?" Kuron laughed loudly. "As if I'm bound to walls and shit. These ghosts just seem to like to remember solid matter is a thing sometimes." He stretched his arms above his head. "Now go on and figure out what is holding Shiro up okay? Think I can handle this."

Keith scowled and glared a bit. "Right. Whatever." He really should have remembered that. He sighed and ran out the room via the other door. Hopefully, he could catch up to Shiro sooner rather than later. Because ghost or not, he wasn't quite sure what Kuron could do to the Kusabi.

"Shiro? Shiro?" He called out as he found himself in some other house now. Not as nice looking as the previous one. As he walked down the hallway though, his eyes widened.

The tattoo priestess stared back at him from the other end of the hallway.

"Oh fuck."


	10. Chapter 9

Shiro walked through the familiar Osaka house. He remembered coming through this house all those years ago. Though, it had been Kuron that had stepped into the house without thinking. He swore his brother never thought anything through. So, it felt strange to once again walk through the hallway and into the living room like area by himself. He expected his brother to show up any minute honestly. He sighed softly and aimed his flashlight at the stairs.

That was when he heard giggling. He raised an eyebrow and turned his flashlight towards the second floor. Briefly, two girls stood there in kimonos. One with black hair and one white hair. He couldn't see their features at all. What he did notice outside of their hair was the red rope tied between them. They must have been twins used during the off year.

"Hey!" He called out to them, knowing how this game was played by now. The presence of ghosts that didn't attack meant they were trying to lure him somewhere. To the keys maybe? He could only hope so. He ran up the stairs and noticed the door. Would it lead him to that same area where he and Kuron first encountered a ghost wishing to kill them or somewhere else? He opened the door to answer that question for himself.

No, it was not the same room. He recalled this room though. It was a room in the house of the last pair of twins to be used before the failed ones. Unlike the two twin girls he saw before him, sitting in front of the alter, the white-haired girl he had encountered imprisoned was forever apart from her sister. He wondered if she was also brought back liked the Kusabi? He hoped not.

The girls mentioned something. Their voices mingled together. He squinted his eyes while trying to pick up what they said.

"Always…together."

He gritted his teeth. Was that really what they said? He scowled and shook his head. "That's not true. Not until you are dead, and even then…" He whispered to himself. "Never mind." He forced himself not to linger on that.

He walked towards one of the stands. As if reaching for further irony, he found the shadow key in front of where the white-haired girl had sat and the sunlight girl where the black-haired girl had sat. "Opposites as always." He put the keys in his pocket. That was when he heard what sounded like someone yelling.

The walls muffled the noise. It sounded masculine. He headed quickly towards the door, opening it quickly. By the time he leaned over the railing to look down at the hearth and the rest of the room, he saw no one. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Did I imagine that?" Carefully, he headed down the stairs. He stood in the hallway that connected the entryway all the way to the back of the house.

The floor was nothing more than dirt. So, he could see there were footsteps that didn't belong to him. The feet were just a bit smaller than his. A ghost couldn't have made that since they had no physical bodies…

"Keith?" or was it someone else? He stood up and headed back the way he had come into the house.

He pushed the door open slowly. A hand gripped the door on the other side and blocked his attempt. Quickly, he moved back and clutched the camera obscura tightly.

"You were trying to come in brother?"

Shiro blinked. "Kuron? You got out? How?"

Kuron opened the door and rolled his eyes. "Uh, ghost? Duh?"

Shiro glared. "Then why did you act like you were trapped in the cell and everything? Why did I grab these keys then? I put Keith in danger for no reason!" He clenched his free hand into a fist.

Kuron sighed. "Eh. I just wanted to fuck with you, and Keith can handle himself. I had no worries about him." He said but then frowned slightly. "Well…until he didn't come back from seeing what was taking you so long."

Shiro tilted his head. "What do you mean? I didn't take that long. I came in here and found the keys pretty quick."

The two looked each other. "You don't think this place has time distortions, do you?" Shiro pondered out loud while Kuron rolled his eyes.

"Wouldn't surprise me none. Hello? This place is like a mix mash of various houses from that village! Not like I've seen the rest of this place to know if it is all like that."

Shiro sighed. "Apparently Keith mentioned another part of the mansion being the same, but of a different place." He didn't feel right elaborating on the details.

"So, what the hell happened to Keith then?" Kuron asked with a faint growl in his voice. "Something better have not spirited him away or hurt him on my watch."

"And I would say again, Kuron, if you hadn't done what you did…" He trailed off as his vision started to blur.

Kuron's laughter sounded like it was coming through a tunnel.

"Guess time's up for you."

Shiro shot up from his bed. While his shoulders and his mid back stung, he shot up from the bed. The pain didn't stop him from running out of his room door in just his boxers and tank top. "Keith?" He yelled as he headed to the room Keith was staying in. He slammed it open and headed inside.

As he turned towards where the bed was, he saw Keith panting and with his arms around his knees.

"Oh, thank goodness you're-" He cut himself off at noticing something.

The tattoos on Keith were almost everywhere now. They covered him like a bodysuit. With Keith in just briefs and shirtless, he saw the reddish tattoo had only spared his lower arms and legs as well as his head. Even his neck had a hint of the curse on it.

"Keith…" Shiro slowly walked to the bed and sat down at the edge of it. "I'm sorry. You encountered that woman, didn't you?"

Keith nodded slowly. "I tried to outrun her. But it was like she had it out for me. Couldn't get any of the doors open or anything. And then once her hand touched my side, I woke up." He rubbed his side. "If she gets me again…I might not be able to wake up, let alone survive."

Shiro frowned and placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "I should have been there for you. If I had known my brother was just playing a fool of me…"

Keith shook his head. "No, I don't blame you." He said firmly. "Kuron just didn't think what could happen. He was always like that. More hot-headed than you and about as hot-headed as me."

Shiro chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I do remember that. I joked with Kuron a few times you two might be two peas in a pod."

"Really?" Keith saw Shiro nod. "I mean, I guess we could be a bit." He rubbed his arms and gritted his teeth.

Shiro rubbed Keith's upper back. "Do you need anything?"

Keith smiled slightly. "No, don't think you can take pain killers for this."

"No, I have tried." Shiro admitted before smiling himself. "Just holler for me or Pidge if you need-"

"Uh? Hello? Didn't notice us in here?"

Shiro looked over and saw Lance, Matt, and Pidge standing there. Lance was the one with his hands on his hips. "Geez. Wake up the whole house and don't expect us to be like what the heck?"

"Lance, shut it." Keith glared. "We get it. Everything is cool. You can go back to bed."

"You sure?" Pidge asked while adjusting her glasses, her hair all over the place. Curse of bad bed hair. "Shiro normally doesn't go yelling names and running about the house like that."

"Something happened in the mansion and I wanted to make sure he was okay." Shiro mentioned quickly. "I think we should all rest before I go into detail. Don't you think?"

"Total avoidance." Pidge rolled her eyes. "But, fine. You all did interrupt me from some nice beauty sleep." She narrowed her eyes at Shiro before leaving the room.

Lance groaned. "Dangit! Speaking of sleep, I think I was having a nice dream about the ladies." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Better get back to it." He waved before he left.

Matt glanced between Shiro and Keith. "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

Keith nodded. "Thanks, but I would rather not focus on it right now."

"Alright. See you in the morning then." Matt smiled a bit and Shiro smiled back.

"Thanks bud." He kept smiling until Matt was gone. Then, he stopped smiling. "Well, like you said, if you need me, let me know." He stood up from the bed and ruffled Keith's hair. "Wish you a better night."

"Thanks, Shiro." Keith lied down and rested on his side.

Shiro sighed softly and left the bedroom. He shut the door behind him. He stiffened at seeing Kuron in front of him. "Huh?"

Kuron snorted. "Yeah, like you haven't noticed ghosts in your apartment lately." He moved past him. "I'll keep an eye on him. But, don't think that means he's immune and you get to let your guard down entirely. I just can't afford you to be sloppy." He smirked and faded through the shut door.

Shiro rubbed his temple. "So much for peace and quiet." He headed back to his bedroom, noticing it was still early in the morning. Maybe if he went back to sleep now, he wouldn't be thrusted back into the mansion. It was getting draining to not truly sleep.

He lied back down on his bed and closed his eyes. For once, only darkness consumed his eyes and mind.


	11. Chapter 10

Shiro woke up with a startle. He sat up quickly and took deep breaths. At seeing it was still night, he tensed a bit. "What?" He hadn't woken up in the middle of the night since the dreams of the manor started. He raised an eyebrow at hearing static noises, like the kind from a radio. "Where is that coming from?" Slowly, he got off the bed and headed out of his room.

He stood in the middle of the hallway and did his best to listen for the static. After a minute of listening, he realized where the sound was coming from. "Adam's room?" He tensed at calling it that. It wasn't his late fiancé's room anymore. He had to remember that. The pain in his heart lingered though as he headed towards the door and carefully opened it.

He stepped inside and raised an eyebrow at the bed. "I swore Keith was in here…" Keith had been sleeping in here the past couple of days since Keith's tattoo had spread. "Kuron?" He looked about the room but didn't see his brother. Why was no one in the room? Why was it like the way it was when he dared no one to enter and disturb Adam's belongings? His heart raced as he heard the static louder now. His gaze focused on Adam's closet.

"I don't remember a radio in there…" He walked over and moved the closet door. He grabbed a flashlight that still was on the closet shelf. He turned it on and shined up at the closet's ceiling. He narrowed his eyes. There did appear to be a gap between the ceiling tiles as if they could be moved. Unfortunately, it was going to be a quite squeeze.

He gripped the flashlight in his mouth, got on the shelf, and then had to quickly move the tile before the shelf broke underneath him. He lifted himself into the attic and spat the flashlight onto the attic floor. "I had forgotten about this attic." They hadn't used it much. Maybe to toss some boxes but not much. Neither of them thought the attic could handle a lot of weight.

The static was really loud now though. He scowled a bit. "Where are you coming from?" He huffed and pulled himself into the attic the best he could. After he felt he wasn't about to fall through, he gripped the flashlight and moved further into the crawl space.

There was nothing there. He moved the flashlight about and then quickly moved back. His eyes widened at an unfamiliar ghost crawling out from the depths of the attic. He crawled back towards the opening. Just as he reached it, their arms wrapped around his torso and he screamed while trying to grip the arms to throw them off. Nothing worked and he soon found his vision going to black.

Shiro cried out and blinked. Huh? Had he been dreaming? It was the morning now and the familiar stabbing pain shot through his shoulders. He breathed through the pain the best he could. Once it was over, he threw on some clothes and left the room. He approached Adam's old room and knocked on the door. He didn't have to wait long before Keith opened the door.

"Hey um…can I catch something in the closet?" He tried not to focus on Keith only wearing boxer briefs.

"Sure." Keith yawned and stepped aside for Shiro to enter.

He made his way to the closet and opened the door. The flashlight was where it normally was, and the ceiling tile hadn't been moved. But he swore it had felt real.

"Something the matter?" Keith asked and Shiro looked over his shoulder at him.

"Think there is something in the attic."

He heard Keith coming towards him. "I can check it out."

"You sure?" Shiro turned to fac Keith.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You might break the shelf."

Shiro chuckled at that and moved away from the closet. "Alright. You go then."

He watched Keith climb onto the shelf and grab the flashlight. Then, Keith disappeared into the ceiling. His stomach became a bit nauseous the longer Keith took. Before he could say anything though, Keith climbed back out of the attic.

"Is it this?" Keith held out a radio.

"Huh? I don't remember us having that, but I think so? I just remember hearing static." He took the radio from Keith and looked it over. "I'll have Matt and Pidge looking at it. See it works and what it is used for."

Keith nodded and showed him the notebook. "This was with it as well. I took a glance at it and looks like it is about radio transmissions from spirits? I didn't know that was a thing."

Shiro frowned slightly while looking at the radio. "I have experienced such before." He walked out of the room, noticing Keith following him. "Back in that place, me and Kuron encountered a radio that played the voices trapped within crystals. I don't know if this radio is like that one or not. That's why I want Matt and Pidge to see it. They could probably tell us more."

They headed downstairs and he saw Lance watching the TV while Matt and Pidge were at the bar counter. He blinked at smelling food? Neither of them was in the kitchen though…

"Oh, hey Shiro!" Lance waved. "I may have invited Hunk over to fix us some food. Figured we needed it!"

Shiro shook his head. "No wonder the food smells really good today." He smirked slightly while Lance pouted.

"Hey! I thought you liked my Cuban dishes!"

"I did Lance. Don't worry." Shiro noticed Matt tilting his head.

"And why do you have a radio?" Pidge asked while Matt tilted his head to the other side.

"Do you recognize it, Matt?" Shiro asked just as Matt furrowed his eyebrows.

"Not sure. It kind of reminds me of some radio Adam talked about to me. I'll see after we eat if it is that one or not."

"Thanks Matt." Shiro placed the radio on the table and moved to sit on the couch.

"Guess it would be nice to have food fit for royalty." He jested, but also kind of meant it. Hunk really did make nice food. Though, he couldn't help but wonder why Hunk was here. Sure, Hunk liked fixing food for large groups. However, he thought Hunk was staying with Allura in another town. He could only hope it was for a friendly surprise visit…

"I know right?" Lance grinned and fist pumped. "It will be awesome!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After breakfast, Shiro stood behind Matt as he examined the radio. He noticed Pidge resting her head on the table nearby. Apparently, Pidge told Matt she hadn't slept well last night. Hopefully, she wasn't fretting over everything. "So, is it a spirit radio?"

Matt looked at him. "Yeah, it is. I would assume if it had crystals or something from the spirit, it would play back their voices."

Shiro swallowed. "Alright. Thanks for confirming. And Matt?" Matt made a noise in acknowledgement. "Be careful with that thing. I don't want to invite anything more than we already have."

The tattooed priestess walked down the hallway. As she past by one of the side rooms, about the size of a closet, she glanced over. She stood still for a moment and started at the tatami wall. Then, she looked away and continued her way down the hall. As soon as she was out of sight, there was movement from behind the tatami wall. "Oh, thank god. She really is annoying." The person muttered and slowly peaked their head out of the room.

They watched the tattooed priestess disappear into thin air. "If only her incorporeal form meant she couldn't hurt me…" They sighed softly. "Dang ghosts." They left the room and headed down the opposite direction of the ghost went. If only the camera they had on them would work on them. But it wasn't a Camera Obscura. They needed one of those.

As they went past a mirror, they glanced at it. They adjusted their glasses and their short hair. "Come on girl. You got this."

Cause so far, Pidge hadn't found herself touched by the tattoo priestess.

But she didn't know how long that would last.


	12. Chapter 11

Even with her and Matt having recently been able to find old plans made for the construction of the manor, there were still times she got lost. Mainly because some rooms didn't line up with the map or didn't even exist on it. She guessed that made some sense. Shiro had mentioned to her parts of the manor had seemingly been plucked from his past. There were testimonies on their tape recordings too of the manor blending together like a memory labyrinth.

If she didn't know any better, the curse had to take advantage of its state inside the realm of dreams. Could a curse actually be that sentient and intelligent enough to grasp such? She furrowed her eyebrows and sighed softly. "If only I had Hunk or Matt here to debate this." She muttered to herself. As she adjusted her glasses, she consulted the map she found within the dream itself.

She wished she had both sheets beside her to consult and compare. Not her luck right now though. She noticed she was near the atrium. The one Matt and she had noticed on the old plan had a doorway shown but no room. It was as if the engineer was not allowed to draw out what lied beyond it. Of course, her and her brother had gotten curious about the room. But so far had only found some vague mentions of some shrine beyond the door. Nothing concrete.

Maybe in this dream version of the manor she could figure out whatever lied beyond there.

After peaking her head out and looking both ways, she crept out of her newest hiding spot and followed the map to the atrium. She saw the door up ahead and carefully opened it. Daring to place her face against the crack between the door and door frame, she noticed the snow once more falling from the sky. She caught sight of a tree in the middle with dolls on stalks all around the tree. Her body stiffened at the sight of a ghost standing in front of the tree.

"Not enough blood has been split."

What? What the world was the person talking about?

Unfortunately, not like she could ask. So far none of the ghosts she encountered had been the friendly talkative types. She sighed as she thought the ghost noticed her and was coming towards her. But before the ghost reached the door, it vanquished. She sighed in relief.

"I really need some way to fight these things at some point." She scowled faintly. For now, all she could do was keep sneaking around. She opened the door and entered the atrium. It still weirded out how while the ghosts could induce pain, she didn't feel cold what so ever. Was the snow even really snow? Could it be some sort of ash? Just as she lifted her hand up to grip some, she saw someone standing in front of the door across from her. The very door that appeared to lead to nothing on the map.

She raised an eyebrow at realizing this person was wearing more modern clothes. They had light brown hair with hints of grey. Their skin was tan, unsure if that was from having bathed in the sun or natural. The hairstyle was neat and combed close to their head. They wore a light grey business jacket and matching dress pants. She even saw hints of glasses frames against the top of their ears.

Could it really be him? She slowly and quietly walked around the atrium, her gaze focused on the presumed man. She caught a brief glimpse of the side of their face before the walls blocked her view. If it wasn't Shiro's late fiancé, it sure was his doppelganger. She walked as quickly as she could without alerting whoever it was of her purpose. Right when she got to the corner, she took a deep breath. She moved herself into view before she could stop herself.

"Adam-" She stopped herself and blinked.

He was gone like he hadn't been there at all.

What she imagined him being there?

She noticed the door in front of her having that strange haunting blue glow. The same glow that she encountered at other places of the manor. "Dangit!" The last time she had tried to get such a door open, she attracted ghostly attention. All she knew for sure was that it acted like a barrier to keep people from passing. Considering the barrier was in front of the very curious door… "I guess someone, or something really doesn't want anyone to know what lies beyond it."

What was she supposed to do now though? With no clue how to break the other barriers, she would have to figure out something else to do. That was when her skin started to crawl. She swallowed and looked around the corner, she saw that familiar dark blue aura seeping from one of the hallways leading back into the manor proper.

"Oh crap." She quickly ran in the opposite direction and quickly ran down the hallway. She opened the door, leading into a projector room. It wouldn't be long though until the tattooed woman likely came into this room as well. She darted out of that room and ended up in the four-way hallway. There was a place towards the main entrance to the area she could use to hide. Her body shivered more, goosebumps appearing on her skin. She looked over her shoulder to see the aura seeping out of the doorway behind her.

It was so tempting to scream out in outrage. But she knew that wouldn't do any good. If anything, that would make the ghostly woman track her easier. She headed towards the main entryway, knowing it led to a courtyard. She just needed to get away!

Her eyes widened when she thought she saw the Adam doppelganger open the door for her. She saw the man's mouth move. In her slight panic, she couldn't register what he was saying exactly. What she did register was one word as she ran out the door.

"Go."

"You alright?"

Pidge's eyes widened while panting. Her mind needed a minute to realize she was sitting up. She panted loudly as she turned her head to see Shiro standing there. The worried look on his face caused her chest to clench a bit. But seeing him there grounded her. Her hands gripped tightly onto the bed sheets while feeling her heart slowly calm down.

"I am now." She smiled faintly but then frown. "But not sure that will last."

"What do you mean?" Shiro sat on the edge of her bed, a matching frown on his face.

She swallowed and looked down at her hands. "…I saw him."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Him?"

Pidge nodded slowly. "I can't say for sure it was him, but if it was…Adam saved me from her."

Shiro's face paled and his gaze opened more. "Adam? He really did?" His voice sounded strange to her. A mixture of airiness and tentativeness.

"Yeah, unless he had some twin we didn't know about." Pidge tried to chuckle and attempt to smile. But her tone sounded off even to her and her lips didn't even try to move up. "He was in front of a door to a part of the manor that I can't get into. The door has some barrier in front of it. I don't have the tools to break it."

"The Camera Obscura." Shiro said softly. "It can break the barriers by showing us what the barrier wishes for us to see first."

Pidge tilted her head. "See first?"

"Yes." Shiro furrowed his eyebrows. "It shows us a place or person and we have to take a picture of that thing before the barrier will disappear. Sounds like we need to find out a Camera for you and to check that place out too. Where was it?"

Pidge slowly got out of the bed and headed towards her desk. She picked up the map, lying it flat on the desk's surface. "It was here." She pointed and saw Shiro standing there at the corner of her eye. "Me and Matt are still looking for what lies beyond there. I can only hope it's something useful to us and not something worse." A faint frown appeared on her face. "Just be careful alright?"

Shiro smiled warmly at her.

"You too, Pidge."


	13. Chapter 12

This might be the first time Shiro actually wanted to wake up in the manor. While he wished it could have been a different place, the manor was the only place to find him. If Pidge really had seen his late fiancé, he needed to see Adam for himself. He had to try and get some of these feelings off his chest. Would Adam still be in that part of the manor though? He tried his best to retrace Pidge's steps from what she told him.

He was in the four-way hallway. He turned to the left and headed to the projector room. When he opened the door, he saw no one in there. Just the old film reel projector and the cloth sheet on the wall. He noticed the little area slightly blocked off. Cautiously, he walked over there and checked it out. The area had a small bookshelf with some books on it. No one hiding inside though.

He stepped out and noticed the door in the back. Pidge mentioned that door lead to the atrium area with a tree in the middle. She told him Adam had been seen in front of the double doors. He took a deep breath before heading out of the room by that back door. He walked down the new hallway and now did see the tree. He even saw the dolls on the poles. Pidge apparently was still researching what those dolls might mean.

Once he stood in front of the railing, he noticed the double doors out of the corner of his eye. Unfortunately, there was no one in front of those doors. He frowned at that. "Where are you now?" He whispered softly. He figured the area was still worth investigating. As he slowly approached, he noticed the ropes across the doors and the jagged papers hanging from them. Someone had tried to make some sort of physical barrier.

What lied beyond that door that needed to be sealed away? Would the manor outside of the realm of dreams have this same door with all attempts to keep it shut? He really wished they had been able to gather the details of the layout. That was easier said than done though. He pressed his hand on the door. He flinched as the blue aura showed itself again. Just like Pidge had said.

He took out his camera and took a picture of it. He raised an eyebrow at seeing multiple men in white outfits with pointed hats. There had been some ghosts with that outfit on. Was he supposed to find them and take pictures of them? Some of the ghosts he noticed seemed to show themselves more so in specific areas of the manor. He wasn't sure these men in pointed hats were that way though.

How was he supposed to find them?

"You're probably just going to have to play the annoying old wild goose chase game unless they show themselves."

Shiro's eyes widened. He knew that voice. He swallowed and quickly turned around. His flashlight aimed right at the man's face. He noticed how their eyes squinted slightly as if still slightly sensitive to bright light. He lowered the flashlight quickly.

"Adam?" Shiro walked towards him. "Is that really you?" He reached his hand towards Adam's cheek. His heart stopped at feeling the tips of his fingers pass through Adam's face.

"Yes, it's me." Adam smiled very faintly, and the smile did not reach his eyes. "This wasn't how I wished for us to meet again though."

"Same." Shiro admitted before frowning. "Then again, I feared I never would see you again. That Death was truly the end and there was nothing after it." He felt his hands tremble. "That I would never be able to tell you all the things I should have said or all the things I wanted to say." He realized the words were coming out of him like a waterfall breaking through a dam. He couldn't stop himself. "I just wish we could have had this conversation in a place that wasn't trying to hurt me and my loved ones."

While Shiro could not touch Adam, he saw Adam's arms wrap around him in a hug. It was like Adam's body was hovering over his. Not quite touching but close enough for him to know Adam was attempting some sort of contact.

"I understand, Takashi." Shiro heard Adam say near his ear. "I've pondered more than once since finding myself here what I would want to say to you. What I feel I should say to you with what time we might have." Adam pulled back and let go of Shiro. "And two things came to mind, even though I'm not sure how much it will help you." Adam smiled just a bit more.

"That it isn't your fault and I will always love you."

"Adam." Shiro's eyes started to sting a bit as water formed at the bottom of his eyes. "I don't think I'm at a place yet where I can let go of my guilt. But hearing you say that…it does help." He smiled even while his lips trembled. "And you will always have a special place in my heart, Adam." He placed his fingers against his own lips and lifted his fingers up into the air. "I love you too."

Adam blinked at the gesture. Shiro swallowed hoping Adam understood what he was doing. Luckily, Adam started to smile warmly and kissed his own fingertips. "You and your romantic gestures." Adam's voice sounded warm as he let his fingers rest right in front of Shiro's.

"I'm just a romantic at heart." Shiro chuckled slightly. His heart felt a bit lighter now and not in some temporary way. "You should know that."

Adam chuckled himself now. "True that."

Shiro noticed Adam looking over his shoulder now. "I'm guessing you got to go?"

Adam shook his head. "I will soon, but I'm just looking at the door right now." He scowled faintly. "I have seen what is beyond there and you all need to get to the place that lies beyond that door."

"What lies beyond there?" Shiro asked while looking at the door himself now.

"There is a large building inside. Inside that building, there is what will look like a shrine or temple depending on how you look at it. I don't think you will be able to open the hidden door in the back right away. Something is missing." Adam explained while walking towards the door. "I've only been able to get behind that door once myself before I had to get away from the more violent inhabitants here." He frowned and turned to face Shiro. "What I could see was a long path that lead down with a cage in the middle that lowered to the bottom."

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm guessing you didn't get a chance to see what lied at the bottom?"

Adam sighed slightly. "No, I didn't. I just have a feeling I need to get there. That you all need to get there."

"Alright Adam. I'll tell the others and we can figure out a way there." Shiro headed towards Adam. "But what about you? Are you going to be okay?" He tried to grasp Adam's hand, but his hand passed through Adam again. "Are we going to be able to see each other again?"

Adam raised his hand and rested it near Shiro's cheek. "Yes, I'll be fine. I'll make sure we can see each other again." He lowered his hand. "I have to go now though. I think ghosts can sense where others of their kind are and sometimes flock to those spots. I don't want her to come find you."

Shiro frowned as his heart clenched tightly in his chest. "I understand. Take care, Adam." He watched as Adam smiled and then disappeared behind the door. He glanced down at the camera in his possession.

"I'll find a way to get to you and get us all out of here. I promise."


	14. Chapter 13

"So, what you're telling me is that we got to somehow bust through that door and get into some weird temple thing with stairs basically going to Hell?" Lance quickly yelled out while flailing his arms about slightly. "Seriously? Is our luck that bad?" He groaned as Keith rolled his eyes.

"I'm very sure Shiro didn't say just now that we had to go to Hell literally. Just down some passage once we get into the temple." Keith shook his head. "Don't make this more dramatic and weirder than it has to be."

"I'm just saying it really sounds like we are living a horror movie right now! You know what happens to people that go down dark creepy tunnel passageways whatever? They usually die!" Lance pointed at all of them before pointing at himself. "And I for one do not want to die."

Shiro sighed slightly. "Then just don't start waking up in the manor and you'll be fine. It's the people affected by the curse that need to attempt such anyway." He rubbed his temple. "If anything, I'm glad not all of us are cursed. I wouldn't want to wish it on anyone."

"Shiro…" Keith frowned and looked down at his hands. He wasn't sure there was anything he could say that would make Shiro feel better about this. It seemed the conversation with Adam had only brought back some life to Shiro's eyes that wasn't faked. The curse probably would keep Shiro from completely escaping his saddened heart. Damn curse!

"Yeah, but it's not like I want you all to get offed while I watch!" Lance pouted. "I mean, does this temple really exist? Maybe Adam just saw weird stuff in there. I heard the darkness can make you go loco." He twirled his finger in front of one of his ears.

Keith heard Pidge groaned. "Really Lance? He's a ghost. Can they even go crazy from the darkness? I can't even believe I'm asking let alone contemplating that." She huffed loudly. "But I honestly think it's possible that the temple could be there." She gestured for Matt to come over. Keith watched Matt come over with some dusty worn parchments and slowly rolled them out across the coffee table.

"These are all the maps we could find. As you can see, there are parts of the Manor of Sleep that don't appear on these ones." He pointed to where the God's village and the Himuro mansion parts of the manor were non-existent but one were drawn in on the map they were working on. "But we have noticed in what few written accounts we could find something about a shrine." He gently placed down books that were bounded together with old strings. "But nowhere on the map does it show a shrine."

"A shrine?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "What kind of shrine?"

Pidge gripped one of the books. "Unfortunately, the books are vague as if trying to keep the place a secret." She handed it to Keith. "There is mention of a Priestess and her need to bear the pain of others. We could only guess she is related to the shrine. But how she bore the pain or anything like that is not in these books."

Keith nodded while opening the book. He saw the lines about the priestess. "Sleep…priestess…lie in peace." He muttered softly to himself. At seeing someone's head next to his, he stiffened slightly.

"Sorry Keith. Didn't mean to spoke you." Shiro looked at the page. "But Keith…weren't you humming that before?"

"Yeah, I believe I was." Keith scowled. "I must have encountered someone in that place that sung it. Why I was singing it while awake like that…I can't say." He kept scowling while closing the book. "I just assume the place is influencing me. Not like I like that though."

"Wait, like influence as in you are getting possessed?" Lance quickly blurted out while doing a cross sign at Keith. "Ah hell naw! Don't let that bad juju into this place!"

"Lance!" Shiro frowned and glared. "Don't act like Keith is going to suddenly turn into the girl from the Exorcist on us!"

Keith saw Lance's color leave his face. "Shiro, I think you made it worse."

Shiro blinked before seeing Lance jump back and move some feet away from Keith. "Whoops. I mean, horror movies never did quite scare me. I just remember people referencing that one as one of the scarier possession movies."

Keith shrugged. "Not like I would know. I don't tend to sit around and watch movies." He was too much of an outdoors on the move guy to sit around for hours on end watching films. "But no, Lance. I've never been possessed. I just have always been able to…I don't know, connect with the spirit realm? So, I guess ghosts sometimes use that to their advantage as best they can."

"Wouldn't that mean you could be suspectable to possession?" Pidge adjusted her glasses. "Or is something else keeping that from happening?"

Keith looked down at the ground. "Dad taught me how keep myself from losing to them completely. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but his techniques have worked so far."

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows. "You think what your dad taught you could benefit the rest of us? I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to be prepared for anything right now."

"Seriously? You saying we are going to get possessed now?"

"Lance!" Shiro and Keith glared at him.

"Okay, sorry. Just that kind of stuff is not cool." Lance took a few deep breaths. "That might be a good idea though. I would much prefer learning some weird tricks than finding myself crawling up walls and speaking in tongues."

Keith face-palmed. "I highly doubt you would do that if you got possessed." His dad never mentioned people who had a ghost intruder doing such things. Though he heard they did in movies apparently. "Sure though. I think I can teach them. They aren't hard in principle. They just require a lot of practice. And where I've always dealt with ghosts in way shape or form, I had a lot of practice let's say."

"Keith…" Shiro placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. "I had no idea. I didn't realize-"

"Hey, it's fine. I wasn't planning on blabbing to you or Kuron about it years ago. Was always something Dad told me to keep a secret." He smiled faintly. "I would have if I could."

Shiro smiled back. "Yeah, I know."

The two kept smiling at each other before Lance made a loud coughing noise. "So, we going to go ahead and learn this voodoo stuff already?

"It isn't voodoo!" Keith stood up and stomped over towards Lance. "You take that back!"

"No! I bet it is some weird witchcraft that is going to make us all witches ready to be burned at the stake!"

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose while glancing at Matt.

"Never a dull moment eh?" Matt grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

Shiro chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, never a dull moment."


	15. Chapter 14

After most of the day had been spent dealing with Keith's brand of teaching…

" _Hey, are you even listening?" Keith yelled loudly in Lance's ear, causing him to flinch and yell out in exclamation. "I told you how many times now that you don't do some stupid dance to fend off the ghosts trying to possess you?" He hit Lance hard upside the head who was now glaring at him. "Goddamn you are dumbass!"_

" _Well I wouldn't be such a dumbass if the teacher wasn't even a huger dumbass for thinking he can be so rude to his students!"_

Shiro rubbed his temple just remembering the two glaring at each other more than once and having pissing matches. It was surprising they learned anything honestly. But he had picked up a thing or two. Mainly that people that were distracted and thus vulnerable in haunted places tended to get hurt and possessed easier. Suffering made people more targeted because of the energy they gave off. It simply meant no wonder the ghosts were attacking them. Let alone that not taking this seriously would get them killed.

Honestly it was kind of obvious. He knew that from his time in All God's Village. Keith likely had to as well. He understood though why the obvious had to be explained to those, like Lance, that never had become involved with spirits before. Not like he would wish such knowledge and experience on anyone. He rubbed his neck, his fingers gracing over the faint discoloration always there. A reminder of his own past with curses and haunted places.

He cracked his neck from one side to the other as the hot water sprayed across his back. The warmth felt good against his body, relaxing the muscles. He could almost even clear his mind of all he was going through. But no. He couldn't do that. Keith was right about distraction. Though he might have also emphasized the spirts' tendency to throw someone off their game. Make them lose their mind over being constantly frightened.

Lance and them didn't need to know that possible scenario. Yet was it wrong to leave them in the dark of the madness that could come from being haunted? The creeping sensations of feeling trapped as malicious beings you couldn't understand tried to harm you? After swallowing and feeling his heart race slightly, he shook his head. He didn't need to go that far to warn them of how this could go all horribly wrong.

The Cuban man had seen it for himself when his sister's body turned to ash. While Lance acted dumb, Shiro never thought him someone incapable of grasping the bigger picture. He didn't need to make Lance even more frightened of what may happen to him and everyone else. He could just only hope Lance would never find himself inside the manor and actually cursed. He was still worried if Matt was a victim as well now that he knew for sure Keith and Pidge were also fellow inhabitants of that manor-

His body tensed at the sound of footsteps in the bathroom. "Who's there?" He called out. That was one way to snap him out of his thoughts. When he got no response, he furrowed his eyebrows. "This isn't funny guys. I want to take a shower in peace. Not get jump scared." He even glared at the frosty window shower door. "Now unless you have something important to talk about, can it please wait until after?" After saying that, he waited.

The silence made his heart pound. He took a step back from the shower door. Once he felt his back pressed against the tiled wall, he clenched his fist. "Kuron? Is that you?" He narrowed his eyes. "I know you didn't just disappear." For while Kuron hadn't shown himself much since their last conversation, he was no fool to believe his deceased brother had vanished entirely. Not while the manor was still in existence. "Keith wouldn't appreciate you freaking me out."

Still no reaction. He scowled slightly. "That should have done something…" He heard the footsteps again but this time closer to the door. He did his best to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground. "Come on and show yourself!" He yelled and that was when he heard the sharp sound of nails scratching the frosted windowpane.

His eyes widened at seeing impossibly long nails, thin and yet clearly deadly. As the person got closer, he realized it was a woman with very pale almost ashen skin. He couldn't see her outfit very well. What he could see was her mouth gaping open as if in pain. Her eyes were hard to see as well. Were they gouged out? He pressed himself more against the wall right before the shower door slammed open. He barely kept himself on his feet as he jumped a bit.

His heart was really loud in his ears and his breathing became short. Slowly, he made himself take deep breaths to calm his heart. Before his heart could become steady again, he heard the door to the bathroom slam open.

"Shiro you alright? We heard yelling." Keith had stepped into the room and turned towards him.

Both of their eyes went wide and Keith's face went as red as the shirt on his torso. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" He quickly turned around.

"So is Shiro okay-ACK!" Lance asked but then Keith shoved him back out into the hallway.

"He's fine Lance!" Keith called out while Shiro took the opportunity to turn off the water and put a towel around his waist.

"You sure? If it wasn't for us watching that horror movie, we would have so come in earlier! But I kept thinking it was the people in the movie!"

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "You two…were watching a horror movie…at a time like this?"

It was then that both Keith and Lance paled a bit. "No, we weren't! He just happened to walk into the living room and-"

"Just shut it Lance." Keith rubbed his temple. "Yes, yes we were." He lightly bonked Lance on top of the head. "Now let's give Shiro privacy. He can explain what happened when he is dressed."

"Ohhh! I didn't even think about that! My bad man!" Lance sounded apologetic as Keith let the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Shiro shook his head with a faint smile. "At least I know they would come to my rescue." He chuckled softly. He got the black tank top and grey sweatpants on as quickly as possible. He didn't want to linger in the bathroom long. Once he had a towel around his neck, he left the bathroom and headed to the living room.

Keith and Lance were both leaning against the couch but at different ends.

"So…what happened?" Keith asked while having his arms across his chest.

Shiro frowned. "I believe some ghost showed up in the bathroom. I thought it was one of you at first or…," he glanced at Keith, "Kuron. But it wasn't. It was a ghost I was unfamiliar with."

"Wait who is Kuron?" Lance asked looking between them two. Before Shiro could answer, Lance kept on as if he hadn't asked the previous question. "And wait we getting haunted by ghosts now? Greaaat! As if the weird things needed to be haunting the living world too!"

Keith groaned. "They always have Lance. Most people just don't tend to see them. It's an issue that they are showing up here though…might mean the manor is somehow slipping into the conscious world."

"Through that abandoned part that we all, but Lance, visited?" Shiro furrowed his eyebrows.

"Not sure. Could be. But I would have thought they would have showed up earlier if that was the case." Keith sighed. "Guess it was a good thing I was teaching all of you about how to deal with ghosts." He looked at Lance. "He might even need it now if the spirits start bothering us when we are awake. Might mean they are becoming attached to this house and will haunt anyone in it."

Shiro frowned. "Maybe you should leave Lance."

"Ah hell naw!" Lance jutted his finger at Shiro and then Keith. "That manor took my sister away from me and the rest of my family. I am not abandoning her to suffer even if that means dealing with these annoying spooky things!" He waved his hands about in the air. "Just maybe you might need to remind me again what to do just in case mullet." A faint groan left his lips. "I don't want to become possessed."

Keith faintly smirked. "Alright. Guess I can be willing to give you a crash course, Lance."

Shiro smiled warmly. "Sounds good to me. I can help if need be. I…don't think I can to go to sleep for a bit."

"Us both." Keith now smiled. "So, come on Lance. Better actually listen this time…"

Shiro found himself a bit more relaxed now that he was dealing with the living instead of a long-nailed ghost.

He could just only hope Keith and Lance wouldn't kill each other by the end of the night.


	16. Chapter 15 part 1

Well, while Keith had taught them some things, Pidge wasn't quite sure it was helping her so much right now! She still had yet to find herself a camera obscura. Was the manor just trying to get her killed quickly? Though in actuality, probably not all the victims of the manor had found a weapon against the ghosts. To think some of them had to keep hiding in various parts of the manor only to end up on the menu after all that work. It really was sucky. But even if probability was not on her side, she was not going to let herself be ghost chow that easily.

Accomplishing the task would be easier if she didn't have a ghost that seemed very intent on her for whatever reason. A woman with long black hair and a dark kimono looking outfit. The ghost always cried out how 'you didn't come back'. Pidge assumed it was a case of mistaken identity. But who was the ghost assuming she was? Even if she did answer that question though, she had a feeling it wouldn't stop the ghost from chasing her around.

She was lucky she found enough strength to push a chest of drawers out of the way and get out onto a siding. It was funny how sometimes the ghosts acted like they remembered what it was like to be bound by physical walls and doors. She panted while glad the cold didn't get to her in the nightmare dream. Though she did find herself rubbing at her arms a bit. "Ugh. How annoying. If only I could outsmart her somehow." She grumbled before carefully walking along the sliding.

Heck, she would take running into Shiro or Keith or anyone living that might have a camera. Though she had yet to have that kind of luck. Carefully, she made her way to the door on the other side. Why there were doors to rooms leading onto the roof like this was beyond her. Then again, the manor may not have originally had such…She shook her head, knowing trying to figure out the manor's confusing configuration would not help her now.

Once inside the new room that she figured was yet another bedroom, she noticed a purple diary. She picked it up and glanced through the contents. Just another account of someone in the manor during the unleashing. What did catch her eye was the mention of a man and wishing for her to see her hair. The first time she saw that woman was in front of a mirror acting like she was tending to her hair.

Was this that ghost's diary?

"You'll be back."

Pidge jumped a bit and quickly turned around. The ghost woman had her hands in front of her face like she was crying. Only after calming herself down did she see the trap door underneath where the ghost had been. "Well, kind of convenient. But I wouldn't be surprised if you're on the other side…" Pidge crossed her arms across her chest and furrowed her eyebrows. "Dang it." She slowly walked towards the trap door. "Guess I'll have to risk it since you were back there before."

Quickly, Pidge opened the trap door and slide down the ladder. Yep, the ghost lady was in the room with the fire pit esque area in the middle. She swallowed as the ghost floated above the metal pot and rotten wood. "I'm just going to go that way." She jutted her hands towards the large double doors. "No harm no foul right?" A nervous laugh escaped her lips before the woman started to float towards her. "Ah heck no!" Pidge ran quickly towards the double doors.

At least the ghost wasn't some Olympic floating runner. "Wait!" The ghost called out right as Pidge closed the doors behind it. She quickly ran through the next room, not quite paying attention to where she was going. The sounds of the ghostly long-haired woman kept echoing behind her. But Pidge didn't dare to look back to double check. Only after running up some stairs and slamming yet another door behind her did she realize she was back in the room with the hanging kimonos and the mirror with the drawer.

"Dang. Guess I got better navigation during panic than I thought." Pidge quickly squeaked at seeing the ghostly woman now in front of the mirror. She tensed, finding herself not wanting to move. She stayed still as the woman appeared to take a key out from her kimono and slipped it into the drawer. Pidge heard the locking mechanism unlock. Was it normally that loud? She watched as the long-haired woman seemingly stood up and then disappeared.

Pidge blinked a few times and then looked back and forth. "Huh?" She dared to walk across the room and approach the mirror. No signs the woman was returning. "What was that about?" She crouched down and examined the contents of the drawer. An earring that looked like a stone crystal to her. A book that she looked through and realized it had quite the insight on the lullaby. She did her best to imprint the words into her memory, hoping to look into such when she woke up.

It was inside the book that it finally clicked why this ghost had such an interest in her.

Her skin paled a bit and her eyes widened at the person in the photo staring back at her. "That…looks like me?" She gripped the photo to look at the figure closer. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit. "Well, it could also look like Matt when he had his hair styled that way too. We did like messing with people back when he didn't have those inches on me." A faint pout crossed her face before she made herself stop pouting. "So is she mistaking me for this person…or mistaking me for Matt who could look like this person?

Pidge rubbed at her temple. "I should try to ask Matt about it next time I see him." She tucked the photo into her bag along with the book. For now, she kept the earring on her person as well. "For now, I better see if I can finally make my way to that temple we need to get to. Maybe the woman only wanted me to see this." She could only hope that.

After standing up, she took a mental note of where she was. Then, she carefully constructed the route to the temple entrance in her head. She could only hope someone else had broken the seal before she attempted the trip. She took a deep breath before following the route. Going downstairs and back through the four-way corridor and through the movie room before ending up coming in one of the four ways into the atrium.

She was glad to see no sign of the tattooed priestess. That would be her luck. She did not need that particular ghost on her butt. Let alone the fact that she didn't want to feel relent on Adam or others to save her from the woman. She headed towards the double doors leading to the temple and didn't see the same seal as before.

Who had been the one to break it? Shiro? Keith? Someone else? She would have to wake until she woke up to see who had finally gotten the initial access to the temple. Her hands pressed against the doors and she opened the double doors slowly. Immediately she was hit by something she might described as miasma. A thick heaviness in the air that she knew could not be good for her. She stepped into the area that seemed to even drain the color from everything around it.

Yet even with her vision now only registering blacks, greys, and whites, she knew who it was standing in front of what she presumed was the main temple.

"Matt?!"


	17. Chapter 15 part 2

"Katie?" Matt had his eyes widen as well.

Pidge quickly rushed over towards him. "How did you get in here?" She swallowed, another question on the tip of her tongue. Yet she had a feeling she knew the answer to that one all along. How else could Matt be here at all if he wasn't cursed? "I thought the door was locked."

"I just woke up in here." Matt raised his arms slightly in the air before shrugging. "Last time, I was in a completely different part of the manor. You know how that goes." He glanced about the area. "I thought it convenient obviously." He gestured to the temple behind him. "I mean we are trying to get in there, right?" A grin slowly showed on his face. "Though I already did try the door. It's locked from the inside."

"Of course." Pidge groaned and adjusted her glasses. "Just our luck." She noticed a destroyed building and a pond to her right. Then she noticed what she guessed was a grave or shrine along with another building. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Have you tried that door over there? Looks like it just has a board in place that could be moved."

Matt turned his head and focused on that building. "I haven't been up that long. Just had enough time to try the door and all before I saw you." He bowed slightly with a faint smirk. "After you my la-OW!" He rubbed the top of his head after Pidge bonked him lightly.

"Save that for someone else Sherlock." She teased with a grin before quickly heading towards the door. She really wanted out of the area with the heavy air. Let alone how eerie it was to only see in shades of black, white, and grey. Sure, there were creatures that only saw in such color. Yet they, unlike humans, did not know about color to really miss it. Only the color-blind (and even then it would have to be a serious case of it), would feel such a world as normal. She would not feel that anytime soon.

She approached the board and quickly found herself struggling just a bit. She glared over at Matt, who was snickering. "Haha." She gave it all she got and finally pushed the board off the hooks. Her body tensed at the loudness of the board hitting the ground.

"Good thing the only inhabitants besides us are ghosts. Got a feeling you would have woken up the dead with that otherwise." Matt snickered louder.

Pidge huffed loudly. "That would require there to be something not a ghost to wake up." She smirked at him. "And unless there is a Lance around, I think I'll be fine causing a ruckus." Her smirk dropped briefly at the mention of Lance. Was he also here roaming around the mansion? She pushed that possibility out of her mind. "Let's just see what is inside here shall we?" This time, she bowed and moved out of the way. "Ladies first."

"Oh, I see what you are doing there, Katie. I'm not forgetting that." Matt stuck his tongue out at her. Then they both laughed faintly. "But I think I can hold off payback until we both are out of here." He walked towards the door and pulled the double doors forward. Immediately, they both noticed the destroyed stairway in the middle of the room.

"Well, so much for getting upstairs easily." Pidge remarked as they both entered the room. "But there does look to be a door on the other side." She pointed while seeing Matt nodding out of the corner of her eye.

"Then guess we got no choice but to go that WAAAYYY!" Matt jumped, looking at something at the top of the destroyed stairs.

Pidge looked herself and found herself jumping. If only because neither of them expected some child ghost to be up there looking down at them. Even in her frightened state, Pidge did notice the ghost wearing priestess like grab. A handmaiden perhaps? They both relaxed once the ghost had disappeared.

"Yeah, definitely going to be glad when this is all over with. Never watching another horror movie with ghosts ever again." Pidge brushed her shorts off.

"Same." Matt blinked a bit. "Huh. I don't think that object was over there before. Ghosts around here sure do have a knack for leaving stuff around." He walked over and picked up what looked to be a stone with a colored pinwheel design on it. "I think I know where this might go. But with how large this mansion is, I could be just mixing things up."

Pidge caught up to her brother and looked at the circular stone in his hand. "I can't say I have. Then again, I've tended to have issues needing to hide from ghosts. Not like I can confront them."

Matt smirked. "Well, guess the dashing amazing Matthew Holt is able to save his sister's day!" He pulled out a Camera Obscura. "Totally got a means to make them back off if they get a little handsy!"

"Awesome!" Pidge grinned. "Better than nothing. And I guess I can stand your company for now." She nudged his side with her elbow and Matt chuckled.

"You better or else I might leave you to the ghost fishes!" Matt looked over his shoulder at her and then headed towards the door. He heard it unlock, meaning it was likely locked if anyone had tried from the other side. He pushed it open and Pidge followed after him. The two raised an eyebrow at the change of scenario from being in what seemed like a large temple esque building to an old Japanese style house. But, both of them ended up shrugging at the same time.

The two headed down the hallway towards the large open room. Pidge raised an eyebrow at Matt standing still with furrowed eyebrows.

"Something up?" Pidge asked as she tried to spot whatever was catching her brother's attention. She just couldn't see anything in particular that stood out. There was a second floor balcony and stairs along with a fire pit with doors to other rooms.

"Just reminds me of a place I am looking into." Matt finally answered and shrugged. "I would need to see more of this place to make sure."

Pidge nodded slightly while scowling. "Yeah, but guess that miasma is everywhere now?" She still hadn't been able to see color since they had left the large temple courtyard. The air still felt heavy.

Matt frowned. "It might be. If that's the case, we'll just have to be careful. We don't know all the affects of this miasma yet." He headed towards the room to the right side of the fire pit. "We better investigate the area. Just in case there is something useful."

"Right." Pidge nodded and followed after Matt. Before they got over there though, they heard girls saying something indecipherable. Both looked up to see twin girls looking down at them from the second-floor balcony. Pidge raised an eyebrow at how they not only had a red cord between them, but one had white hair and the other had black hair. She noticed Matt quickly take a picture with his Camera Obscura. But what really stood out to her was Matt paling slightly.

"Matt?" She lightly nudged Matt. "There is something you aren't telling me, isn't there?"

Matt sighed loudly. "I just wasn't sure." He moved towards the stairs now. "But the building's structure and all reminded me a bit of a building I was looking into within a village called All God's Village. Never seen it in person. I could only read through books and accounts about the place as well as reference old maps." He walked up the stairs with Pidge now at his side. "The village was small with only a few families, but each one had provided twins for the ritual in the past. So, we might have just seen the ghosts of the twins used for such."

"What ritual exactly?" Pidge asked as they saw a door on the second floor.

"The Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. It was used to calm down what they called the Hellish Abyss. Not sure if that was the name of an actual gateway, a pit, or some creature. Books that have been about the ritual is few and far between since apparently the village was cut off by a curse. And what few around tend to blot out mentions about the Abyss. So even took awhile to figure out its name." Matt explained and headed towards the door.

"But Shiro told me the village, the place where the abyss lied, is where Kuron died…by his own hand."

Pidge's eyes widened. "What?"

Matt frowned. "Yeah, he hasn't told me much about it…but it was one of the few things he did tell me about the time he was missing. So I've been trying to figure out more so I don't have to make him remember." He explained before sighing. "Don't tell Shiro I told you okay? I don't think he wants that getting around." The frown remained on his face as he entered the room.

Pidge continued to stand outside the room. "Shiro…killed Kuron?" She muttered to herself. She was under the impression Kuron had gone missing after the two both vanished. It was true only Shiro had been found.

But Shiro didn't have a violent bone in his body.

…Right?

She knew the thought would bug her but for now, she pushed that to the back of her mind and followed her brother.

She would hopefully get the chance to ask Shiro about it later.


	18. Chapter 15 part 3

She didn't know how long she had been standing out there. Probably a few minutes at most. But it sure felt longer before her brother opened the door again.

"Found what looks like a library or at least a decent collection of books. Might find some useful ones." Matt blinked before frowning slightly. He approached Pidge and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, I'm sorry for dropping such a bombshell and walking off like that. I should have been more tactful about that." He felt his sister hug back. "It's just old news I had already come to accept so…your brother had a dumb moment."

Pidge faintly snickered. "Well, guess I can forgive you for it." She smiled as she said that. She pulled back from him and looked at him. "You have any idea why it happened? Did he tell you?"

Matt sighed and glanced off to the side. "He told me he didn't want to. But his hand was forced." He looked down at his own hand. "I've been studying what I can, and I think it is related to the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. There are mentions of twins being used as the sacrifice to quell the Abyss. Why they used twins, let alone who was picked to kill the other, I'm still looking into that." He turned his head towards the room he had come from. "But considering the pressing matters at hand, the research has had to be put on the back burner somewhat."

"Right." Pidge lightly punched Matt's arm. "But you will tell me when you know right?"

Matt rubbed his arm before chuckling. "Yeah, I will. Scout's honor." He grinned. "We better head to that room though. Figured you would be annoyed if I left you to scour all that knowledge alone."

"You bet you are right there." Pidge followed her brother through the unfamiliar room. It looked to be a room with an altar and two seating cushions in front of it. She presumed that was what this room was anyway. With how neither of them lingered, she could only guess. The next room though definitely appeared to be a library-esque place with bookcases lining all the walls. There was a staircase that lead up, but she definitely paid more attention to the condition of the books.

Some of them appeared to be rotting away just by the looks of them. Bindings tearing off and the smell of mustiness in the air. She approached one of the bookshelves and glanced over all the books there. While she didn't dare to touch some for fear of them falling apart, she dared to take one off the shelf. Unfortunately, the writing inside had smudged and faded with age. "Dangit." She muttered as she put the book back up.

She saw her brother checking out books from another bookcase. She assumed he was having as much luck as herself. Then, she pulled out a book and saw writing she could actually read. "Hey Matt! Find anything useful over there? I think I found something in this book." She adjusted her glasses while skimming the pages. "Something about the Unleashing and the Mirror of Loss."

"Oh! The book I found has mentions of a Mirror of Loss. Could be the same thing. What does yours say about it?"

Pidge looked down at the book and this time read the book carefully. "The priestess' pain shall be reflected in the Mirror of Loss." She shrugged. "That's the only mention of the Mirror in this book, but I think this Unleashing is connected to what is going on." She poked at one of the pages. "It says the Rift that will spill forth will pass through dreams into the world. Before that, it says this would happen only if the tattoos should enter her eyes and the priestess awakens."

"Well dang. Could be what is going on. Though wonder what would cause the priestess to awaken? Or for the tattoos to go into her eyes?" Matt groaned. "Never thought I would be saying that."

He focused back on his own book. "Wait, maybe this book does answer my own question? Geez shows how much I paid attention. Mentions she has to shatter the mirror that would be a reflection of her pain as a way of casting off her love. After she does this, she will take the last passage and then sleep eternally in the Chamber of Thorns."

Pidge blinked and glanced between Matt's book and hers. "Wait, my book mentions the Rift will spill out from a Chamber of Thorns."

"Then this Chamber of Thorns must normally act as a way to keep the Rift at bay along with the sleeping priestess?" Matt tilted his head. "Seems either way we will need to find a way to check it out." He put the book in his bag. "Might as well keep these for future reference. Let's see if we can find anything else useful."

"Sounds like a plan." She put the book into her own satchel and rummaged through more of the books. The two ending up finding a couple of more useful books. One mentioned the art of the tattoos and how they were to be put on the priestess. Another mentioned what would happen if a tattooed priestess could not fulfill her duty of sleeping for eternity. A peculiar book stuck out to Pidge in that it talked about purification.

"Think this blue flame will cause everything around here to feel less…dense?" She still didn't like everything being in black and white. Let alone the feeling like the air was trying to smoother her.

"If it does, we would have to find it first." After he said that, they heard crying coming from upstairs. "Well…guess we got no choice but to check it out." Matt sighed loudly. "Even though I don't want to."

Pidge scowled. "As if I want to either. But come on, let's get it over with."

The two headed up the stairs. "Let me take lead just in case." Matt mentioned and went around Pidge. He stood at the top of the stairs. Pidge watched her brother slowly walk around the divider and take a photo using his camera. She finished climbing the stairs only when it appeared her brother wasn't fighting any ghosts.

"Huh. Found a candle with a blue flame of all things." Matt came back around the divider and showed Pidge. "Is this really-" He cut himself off as they both witnessed the black and white around them quickly moving away from them. As if the lack of color itself was a substance and not something intangible. "Holy cow!"

Pidge looked at her brother and could actually see the brown of his hair and eyes that matched her own. "Thank goodness. That really was weird."

"You bet." Matt looked at the candle. "But don't think it will last forever." He handed the burning stick to Pidge. "Keep it safe. We'll need it for as long as it burns."

"Right." Pidge kept a hand nearby the flame to keep any sudden gusts of air from blowing it out. Though the flame itself appeared to be unwavering, as if not sensing any movement at all. Guess a supernatural flame didn't have to quite obey the laws of normal fire. They walked towards the only door on that floor and noticed they were now on the roof of the building.

"You know, I could go all day on how this really doesn't make any bit of sense." Matt shook his head. "But I feel I would be preaching to a choir that already agrees with me."

Pidge laughed. "Yeah, true." She followed her brother and blinked. "But if we could make that jump, maybe there would be a way inside the locked building." She pointed to the gap between the buildings. "Doesn't look too big."

"Yeah, we probably could with a running start." Matt grinned at her. "Ready?"

Pidge nodded. "Ready!" She yelled and the two rushed towards the edge. They jumped at the last second. That was when they knew they had made a bit of a mistake.

The running start hadn't been quite needed.

They both landed on the other roof. While Pidge was able to stop her own momentum, barely, she cringed at Matt crashing into the part of the roof.

"You okay there, Matt?"

Matt made some noises, like he was saying ouch, as he pried himself off the roof. "Yeah…couldn't be better." He gave a thumbs up. "At least our dream selves don't seem to bleed or anything. Otherwise pretty sure my nose would be bleeding." He rubbed the bridge of his nose gently. "Let's hope that doesn't happen again."

"Yeah." Pidge snickered right before the two started moving slowly across the rooftop. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly with how this place was oddly laid out, there were double doors into the building on the roof. The two entered the building through those double doors. The room was pretty sparse with a bookcase of note on the other side of the room. She did notice what appeared to be a way down to the level below.

"Guess that way" Pidge pointed, and Matt nodded.

"Only way, right?" Matt headed towards the ladder and climbed down. Pidge followed after. The two of them paled at realizing all they had beneath their feet were wooden beams. While there was a room below them with what appeared to be an alter of sorts, there was still a bit of drop between them and the wooden floor before. "Great. Just great. Better be good at balancing." Pidge snorted. "Or else we might become smears on the floor."

"Really? Didn't need that image Katie." Matt huffed. "We'll be fine though. Just got to be careful."

Pidge nodded. Slowly, she took the lead in this case and started across the wooden beams that crisscrossed each other and sometimes ended up in dead ends. She could tell they needed to get to the ladder that was on the other side from them. If they could get to that ladder, they would be okay. As they traversed the strange maze, Pidge looked towards the alter.

She noticed behind the alter was what appeared to be a room closed off by a golden slightly see through cloth. She thought she could see a door inside the area. But with how it was hard to see through the fabric, she wasn't quite sure. She did hear what sounded like some racket and was sure she was seeing figures inside. Who they were though…she could only assume more ghostly residents.

"We got company." She whispered and gestured towards the sectioned off area.

Matt scowled. "Welp, at least I got a heads up this time." He took out his camera as the two finally made it to the leader. Carefully Pidge climbed down the ladder followed by Matt. Pidge headed towards the alter and noticed what appeared to be an empty slot for a hand mirror. Was this where the Mirror of Loss was put? She didn't have much time to figure that out before two ghosts appeared nearby.

Two women who had no shirts on and long robes covering their lower halves. Pidge tensed and had her eyes widened at what looked to be clothes around their eyes and forehead. But it was the ropes that were threaded through their eyes that made her stomach churn. "What the world?" She quickly got out of the way the best she could, moving herself towards the closed off area.

Matt lifted his camera. It was annoying to deal with one ghost, let alone both. He had to quickly move around in the sense of turning himself around 360 to take a picture of one and dodged the other. Luckily, Pidge did yell when she saw one trying to sneak up behind him. He quickly had to backstep to keep himself from getting hugged by one of the women. He quickly noticed the bared spikes on and in her hands. What had happened to these women, or had their ghostly selves gotten distorted?

He hoped for the latter for their sake. Because if not…that meant their eyes were blinded in such a manner while alive.

He gasped and gritted his teeth when one of those spikes hit his arm. Once again, no blood. But the pain definitely shot through his arm. He quickly jumped back slightly and then took another photo. He never liked to hear the screams of the ghosts. What else was he supposed to do though? Let the ghosts have a piece of him? Sure, if these ladies were good looking and not trying to kill him, he would consider it. Just not with these spiky ladies!

Slowly, but surely though, the camera continued to cause damage to the female ghosts. He never could see the damage for sure. It wasn't like they gained wounds or anything as a result. He just continued their cries of agony. Though it was always easy to tell when he must have dispelled them for now. They sometimes gripped their heads as if in pain. Most of the time though, they moved back as if heavily pushed and then just quickly disappear. Sometimes with a parting word or two.

This time, he watched as the ghosts fell forward onto their knees and slowly lowering their arms to the ground. Maybe in an attempt to offer a prayer? He couldn't be sure since they said no words. Just cries of pain. He frowned at that. "That will hopefully be something I don't get used to." He put up the camera. "Should be safe now Katie!"

Pidge nodded and moved away from the closed off area. "Looks like we can't get in there. I tried the one side and it is locked."

Matt nodded. "Double check the other side while I unlock the double doors."

Pidge headed to the other side and found the same result. While the entrance into the area was no conventional door, there was still some lock mechanism. Something keeping it in place. She glared. "Stupid weird locking mechanisms." She couldn't see any conventional keyholes or even talismans. So what was keeping the doors locked?

"Got the double doors open. Leads back to the area we first saw each other."

"Good to know." She moved away and caught up with her brother. "We'll need to figure out a way to get that area opened."

Matt nodded before blinking a bit. "Think it's about time though."

"Time for what?"

Was all the chance she got to say before everything went blinding white.

Only when she woke up did she realize that Matt meant their time in the manor of sleep. She frowned and looked down at her hands. "To think we really are in this together…." She looked at her room door. "I never wanted you involved, Matt." She wrapped her arms around herself.

She could only hope her brother, like herself, had been spared from the tattoo priestess and her curse. But she couldn't be so sure.


	19. Chapter 16

"You told her?" Shiro glared faintly at Matt. "Why Matt? Why?"

Matt scoffed slightly. "Because I blurted it out all right? I wasn't going to leave my sister in the dark. I did tell her to ask you for details but have a feeling you won't be elaborating easily."

Shiro groaned. "Yeah, because it's still a sensitive subject for me." He looked down and gently placed his fingers against the front of his neck. "I bear the mark of it every day." He glanced at the mirror in the bathroom. The butterfly shaped bruise was faint today. "Besides, we need to focus on our current situation more so right now." He grunted at feeling Matt lightly punch his arm.

"Yeah but I think what you went through, both in All God's Village and with Adam is being used against you." Matt crossed his arms over his chest. "The manor has literally manifested a place based on All God's Village just as it has manifested an area similar to Himuro mansion. This place right now is really feeding off you and Keith both."

Shiro frowned and looked out into the hallway. "I would rather it feed off just me if it really is doing that."

Matt shook his head. "Yeah, but you aren't going to get that wish my friend. The malice released from that place doesn't discriminate. Just for some reason, maybe because those two places were also infested by malice and ghosts…that the manor seems especially willing to adapt itself to those places."

"Wouldn't that apply some sort of awareness of Himuro Mansion and All God's Village?"

"It would." Matt tapped his chin. "It could easily glean it from your two's memories though. I haven't found or seen any proof that the people that once lived at the manor knew about the other Hell gates. So, I would say the most likely theory is just learning about them from you two."

Shiro nodded and moved away from the bathroom mirror. He stepped past Matt and into the hallway. He glanced briefly at the ground. "So, what do you suggest then? If the Manor of Sleep is somehow purposefully targeting me and Keith in some way…then how do we stop that?"

Matt popped his knuckles while he walked past Shiro. "I think you know the answer to that, Shiro. After all, the place curses those with unresolved guilt related to trauma. That is what it seems like if we base it off of you, Keith, and Veronica." He turned to face Shiro before pointing at him. "You two are just going to have to finally face your demons and learn to live with them. Then the manor can't have as much power over you two."

Hearing those words caused Shiro to faintly scowl. Yet, he didn't have any smart comebacks for Matt. He knew there was truth to his friend's words. He took a deep breath while once more brushing his fingers along the butterfly bruise. "I think I was worried that if I let myself move on, if I made myself live on knowing my brother and my fiancé are dead now…that I would truly lose them."

"You already did though." Matt almost cringed at his own bluntness. But maybe the bluntness was needed. "They aren't amongst the living anymore, but you are. We can argue all we want whether Kuron is pleased with that outcome. But I know Adam would rather you have survived that crash than die along with him. His spirit helping us is a sign of that."

Shiro nodded slowly. "I know. It just hurts."

Matt frowned. "Yeah, it hurt when father died. Death is never easy." He walked over and patted Shiro on the shoulder. "But if we are to make sure no one else loses their lives to this curse, we have to set an example. The example of learning to live with the pain and not let ourselves be burdened with the desire to join them." He squeezed Shiro's shoulder before moving away. "Otherwise this curse will continue and affect many more slowly but surely."

"You're right." Shiro looked Matt in the eye. "I don't want anyone else to die from the curse. We were too late to save Veronica but aren't too late to save myself and the others." He glanced towards the door into the living room. "I think it's time I did open about what happened to me. Maybe not all of it at once…but just the bit I'm sure your sister is curious about."

"You sure? I know I said you got to deal with it. But I don't mean to head charge through it and act like trauma talk is going to be easy peasy either."

"I know. But you told her that I had killed Kuron right? Then it's only right I explain to her and to you why I had to do that."

Matt smiled faintly. "Yeah, I have only been able to speculate all these years. But do know I have never thought you did it out of cold blood or anything like that. I'm sure Katie believes that too."

Shiro smiled warmly and walked towards his friend. "Thanks Matt. It's nice to hear that."

He walked into the living room with Matt. He saw Keith and Lance watching TV on the couch. He had a feeling Pidge must be upstairs in her room. He walked past the two that weren't arguing for once and made his way up the stairs. He glanced over his shoulder to see Matt was following him. Upon standing in front of Pidge's door, he took a shaky breath. He saw Matt smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. Shiro smiled back and then knocked on the door.

"Pidge? You busy?" He called out and heard someone coming towards the door.

Pidge opened it and looked up at Shiro. "No, need something?"

Shiro glanced towards Matt and then back at Pidge. "I just wanted to take the opportunity to explain myself…to give you the reasoning behind what I did." He tensed slightly, watching Pidge's facial expression.

She furrowed her eyebrows. Then, she moved back to give Shiro and Matt room to enter. "I wasn't expecting you to come to me. But hey, it does take a lot of work off my back trying to get you to tell me." She walked back towards her desk chair and plopped on it. "But Shiro? Take your time okay? I'm really curious but I…I'm no rush. I just never really thought you would do such and-" She stopped herself and huffed. "Never mind. It's coming out all wrong."

Shiro chuckled slightly. "It's alright Pidge. I'm not expecting you to be all fine and dandy about it." He sat down at the edge of Pidge's bed. "But I'm glad you are willing to listen."

He looked between the two Holt siblings and then took a huge breath in and out.

"So, I'm going to tell you now why I had to kill my own brother."


End file.
